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European Geologist

N° 30 Dec 2010

European GeologistRevue dé la Fédération Européenne des Géologues

Journal of the European Federation of Geologists

Revista de la Federación Europea de Geólogos

HigherEducation

in

GeologyEuro-Ages

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2 European Geologist 30

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3European Geologist 30

Contents European Geologist 30

Page

Foreword...Ruth Allington 4

Euro-Ages

Euro-Ages... André Rieck 5

The Bologna Process...Paul D. Ryan 9

Mapping the European geological qualication 14

...Isabel Fernandez and David Norbury

The Euro-Ages programme and Ireland...Ben Kennedy 18

Learning outcomes and skill levels...David Norbury 19Academia and industry, Hungary... Janos Foldessy and Ferenc Madai 23

Higher education in geology in Hungary...Éva Hartai 26

Geological higher education in Serbia...Vladica Cvetković 28

The higher education system in Italy...M. Trimboli and E. Nucci 30

Professional registration in Canada...O. Bonham and G. Finn 35

Perspective from employers...Luca Demicheli 37

Euro-Ages and geology in Sweden...Vivi Vajda and Linda M. Larsson 39

EFG News

On regulations and renewals...David Norbury 41

Other News

First Spanish Geological Olympiad... Amelia Calonga Garcia 41

News from GsF. The Togo project...Carlo Enrico Bravi 43

Book Review

Introducing Palaeontology...by Patrick Wyse Jackson 45

... review by D. Harper

p. 41

p. 23

AdvertisersRockware (pages 2 and 48); SLR (page 13);Stump Foratec AG (page 22); Polymetra GyroServices (page 29); Geoscience Data Manage-ment (page 38); Golder Associates (page 40);Geobrugg (page 47).

Cover photo:Main photo: Bologna, which houses the oldest continuously operating university in the world,established probably in 1088 (Photo: D. Harper).Smaller photos, from left: Graduation day at Bologna University (Photo: D. Harper); Student on practical training in a mine, Hungary.

Photos this page:From left: Participating countries in mappingEuropean Qualifcation; Students on mining practical training, Hungary; Students at theGeoMining Museum, Geological Survey of Spain(Photo: A. Calonga).

© Copyright 2010 The European Federationof Geologists All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be madewithout written permission. No responsibility isassumed by the Publisher for any injury and/or damage to persons or property as a matter of products liability, negligence, or otherwise,or from any use or operation of any methods,

products, instructions or ideas contained in thematerial herein. Although all advertising mate-rial is expected to conform to ethical (medical) standards, inclusion in this publication does not constitute a guarantee or endorsement of thequality or value of such product or of the claimsmade by its manufacturer. ISSN: 1028 - 267X

p. 14

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EUROPEAN GEOLOGIST

is published by theEuropean Federation of Geologists

C/O Service Geologique de BelgiqueRue Jenner 13

B-1000 Bruxelles, BelgiumTel:+32 2 6270412

[email protected]

THE BOARD OF EFG

PRESIDENTEurGeol. Ruth Allington

[email protected]

VICE-PRESIDENTNieves Sanchez

[email protected]

SECRETARY-GENERALElisabeth Däcker

[email protected]

TREASURERLeonard Luzieux

[email protected]

EU DELEGATEMarino Trimboli

[email protected]

EDITOR

Maureen Mc [email protected]

EDITORIAL BOARD

Maureen Mc CorryMarino Trimboli

Éva Hartai

Gareth Ll JonesEdmund NicklessManuel Regueiro

Translations byAntoine BouvierManuel Regueiro

Layout byMaureen Mc Corry


Foreword

Euro-Agesby EurGeol. Ruth Allington, President

This edition of European Geologist

is a thematic issue on higher educa-

tion and lifelong learning to mark

the conclusion of the Euro-Ages project1.

The nal conference took place on 22

October 2010 and the nal report will be

completed during December 2010 and the

early part of 2011.

The principal objective of the Euro-

Ages project has been to review quality

standards and criteria for the assessment

of higher education study programmes in

geology across Europe and to propose a

framework for Europe-wide standards.This is not a project about develop-

ing and attempting to impose prescrip-

tive Europe-wide curricula for geological

study programmes, but about articulating

a set of high level learning outcomes (the

quality standards) based on existing qual-

ity frameworks, and dening appropriate

levels of attainment in terms of learning

outcomes achieved on completion of each

of the key Bologna cycles (including cycle

4, the stage at which professional qualica-

tions may be attained). The vision is for the

establishment of a Europe-wide accredita-

tion scheme for geological programmes

(based on assessment/certication against

delivery of the Euro-Ages learning out-

comes) that can sit alongside national

and regional accreditation schemes that

determine content and course structures in

accordance with national laws and norms.

The potential advantages of developing

a shared understanding of an appropriate

set of high level learning outcomes from

geological programmes of study across

Europe (and elsewhere in the World), and

of agreeing the progression of skills and

experience appropriate at the end of eachBologna cycle include:

- Supporting university teachers of geol-

ogy in designing and developing their

programmes having regard not only to

the Bologna requirements (inputs and

credits) but also to ensuring that gradu-

ate geologists possess the appropriate

skill sets and experience to go on and

become professional geologists

- Providing a common framework within

which geologists can demonstrate pro-

gression and development from rst

cycle graduation to attainment of a

professional qualication (such as

European Geologist (EurGeol.))

- Facilitating mutual recognition of higher

education programmes and professional

qualications through programme vali-

dation and certication on a Europe-

wide basis

- Supporting the mobility of geology grad-

uates and professional geologists

- Providing a ‘quality label’ for accred-

ited geology programmes of rst andsecond cycle.

Intermediate results of the project are

available on the Euro-Ages website:

(http://www.euro-ages.eu), or via the EFG

website: (http://www.eurogeologists.eu).

As the nal results become available, they

will also be posted on this website. Feed-

back on all these materials and an ongo-

ing discussion within the wider geological

community will be welcomed both now

and when the project is nished. This will

be co-ordinated via the EFG and reported

periodically in this magazine.

1 Project Partners: ASIIN Consult GmBH; European Federation of Geolo-

gists; Ofcial Spanish Association of Pro- fessional Geologists (ICOG); HungarianGeological Society (MFT); Swedish Nat-ural Scientists Association - Geological Section.

Advisory Board: Dr. Hans-JürgenWeyer (German Professional Associa-tion of Geoscientists - BDG); Dr. Paul

Ryan (Tuning Educational Structures in Europe); Dr. Luca Demichelli (EuroGeo-

Surveys).

mailto:[email protected]

http://www.eurogeologists.eu/







http://www.euro-ages.eu/












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Euro-Ages aimed at developing a

qualication framework for geol-

ogy, based on learning outcomes

rather than input factors on the European

level, thereby increasing transparency

of the Earth Sciences qualications and

ultimately facilitating academic and pro-

fessional mobility across Europe while at

the same time stimulating students andgraduates in the eld of geology as well as

professional geologists to pursue Lifelong

Learning. The project allowed a structured

exchange of best practices, expertise and

country characteristics of professional

practices in geology in the different Euro-

pean countries. The project moreover

provided important reference points for

quality assurance and related recognition

issues focused on learning outcomes. At the

same time, a pan-European set of outcome

descriptors for the EQF level 6 (“Bachelor/

1st cycle”), and 7 (“Masters/2nd cycle”)

serves as a reference framework for pro-

gramme development by individual higher

education institutions, for the establish-

ment of national sectoral qualications

frameworks in geology and for the devel-

opment of a sectoral qualication frame-

work for geology encompassing all levels

of the EQF. The persistent lack of compara-

ble subject-specic tools for assessing and

enhancing the quality of geology degree

programmes on a national or transnational

level in the past has proven to be a potential

obstacle to the mobility of geologists, geol-

ogy students and graduates. In response to

this need, and in line with previous efforts

undertaken by EU-supported projects, this joint project has involved the major stake-

holders in the eld of higher education in

geology in order to develop a Europe-wide

applicable qualications framework and

procedural guidelines for the assessment

of geology degree programmes.

The manifold obstacles to academic

and professional mobility are key chal-

lenges for the achievement of the Lisbon

goal of making the EU the most com-

petitive knowledge-based economy in

the world. In many countries geology is

a regulated profession, the exercise of

Euro-Ages

A leap towards transparency, comparability and

mobility in geology in higher education across Europe

by André Rieck 1

1

ASIIN Consult GmbH

Combining the common interests andindividual strengths of ASIIN (Ger-many), EFG (Belgium), ICOG (Spain),MFT (Hungary) and SACO (Sweden),Euro-Ages provides important refer-ence points for the development andquality assurance of geology and

geosciences in tertiary education.Within the scope of the project life-time (2009-2011) this was primarilyimplemented by compiling a set of outcome descriptors for Bachelor’sand Master’s degree programmes.This reference framework can be usedfor programme development by indi-vidual higher education institutions,for the establishment of national sec-toral qualication frameworks in geol-ogy and geosciences as well as forthe improvement of accreditation and

evaluation efforts across Europe.

Combinant les intérêts communs et lamotivation de l’engagement individuelde l’ASIIN (Allemagne), EFG (Belgique),ICOG (Espagne), MFT (Hongrie) et SACO(Suède), le dossier Euro Ages fournit despoints de référence importants en mat-ière de développement et d’assurance

qualité pour l’enseignement supérieurde la géologie et des géosciences.Dans l’optique du projet de toute unevie (2009-2011), un premier pas a étéréalisé en compilant une série de chiersrendant compte des programmes con-duisant aux diplômes de Licence et deMaîtrise. Ce système de référence peutêtre utilisé pour le développement deprogrammes par des institutions indivi-duelles en enseignement supérieur, pourla création de cadres de qualicationssectorielles nationales en géologie et

géosciences et aussi pour plus de réus-site dans les efforts en accréditation etévaluation consentis en Europe.

Al combinar los intereses comunes ylas fortalezas de ASSIN (Alemania),FEG (Bélgica), ICOG (España), MFT(Hungria) y SACO (Suecia), el proyectoEuro-Ages aporta importantes puntosde referencia para el desarrollo y elaseguramiento de la calidad en la

educacion terciaria de la geologia ylas ciencias de la tierra . Dentro de losobjetivos del proyecto, que cubre unperiodo de 2009 a 2011, esto se llevófundamentalmente a cabo compilandoun conjunto de descriptores de losresultados de la formacion para losprogramas de Licenciado y Master.Este marco de referencia se puedeutilizar en el desarrollo de los progra-mas por instituciones de educacionsuperior concretas, para el establ-ecimiento de marcos sectoriales de

cualicaciones en geologia y cienciasde la Tierra asi como para la mejorade los esfuerzos de acreditación yevaluación en toda Europa.

http://ec.europa.eu/environment/life/


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which is dependent on predened aca-

demic achievements (frequently dened

in input factors), practical experience and

continuous professional development.

Thus mobility will greatly be facilitated

by the existence of tools for the recog-

nition of qualications and competences,

such as the Tuning Education Structures in

Europe Initiatives, the European Qualica-

tion Framework, ECTS as a Euroepean

“academic currency”, accreditation bodies

acting as strong and independent systems

of external quality assurance, and mutually

respected standards and guidelines such as

the ones developed by the European Asso-

ciation for Quality Assurance in Higher

Education and adopted by the Bergen

Conference in 2005. While the Frame-

work for Qualications of the European

Higher Education Area, as adopted by the

European Ministers of Education in 2005, provides a generic tool for the recogni-

tion of higher education qualications, it

needs to be translated into the specic

elds of study in order to be applicable

to the individual degree programme. For

degree programmes in some disciplines,

notably engineering, chemistry and infor-

matics, sectoral qualications frameworks

have already been developed by pan-Euro-

pean networks to t the needs of specic

disciplines. For geology this gap remained

to be closed by this project.

The roadmapThe Euro-Ages project started in Febru-

ary 2009 within the scope of a meeting at

the EFG ofce in Brussels, Belgium. On

this occasion the initial survey about geol-

ogy study programmes across Europe was

prepared. After rening the questionnaires

and improving the approach of the survey

in Lund, Sweden in May 2009, the ques-

tionnaires were distributed to all major

stakeholders and the survey started to yield

valuable information. These results were

then compiled and edited to benet the

rst draft of the qualication framework

which was adapted in the aftermath of the

third project meeting in Madrid, Spain in

November 2009. The nal project meet-

ing took place in Düsseldorf, Germany

in February 2010 and brought together

the various aspects of Euro-Ages. Further-

more, planning for the test evaluation as

well as the nal conference was started in

Düsseldorf.

Ultimately, in October 2010, the quali-

cation framework including a rst draft

of the accreditation standards could be

tested within the scope of an evaluation

at the University of Miskolc, Hungary for

the B.Sc. in Earth Science & Engineering.

Valuable information for both the Euro-

Ages peers and the programme manag-

ers at Miskolc were gathered during this

process so that the feedback will continue

to ow in the development of the qualica-

tion framework in the months ahead.

Also, on 22 October, the nal project

conference was held in Budapest, Hun-

gary. On this occasion, participants from

across Europe (and even beyond) had the

chance to discuss the results, actively par-

ticipate in the development of the quali-

cation framework and exchange ideas for

the future of geology in higher education.

The partners

The project was initiated and carried out

by a consortium of ve partners:

- ASIIN Consult is a subsidiary of ASIIN

e.V., a not-for-prot accreditationagency carried by an all-embracing

grand alliance of academic and profes-

sional associations and higher educa-

tion institutions in Germany. All activi-

ties of ASIIN are aimed at securing

and further expanding high standards

and the quality of higher education in

the elds of engineering, informatics,

mathematics and the natural sciences,

including geology.

- The European Federation of Geolo-

gists (EFG) with its 22 member coun-

try organizations is a Belgium-basedorganization. Its mission is to represent

the geological profession in Europe and

to safeguard and promote the present

and future interest of the profession as

well as to promote best practice policies

with regard to the responsible use of the

Earth´s natural resource.

- The Ilustre Colegio Ocial De Geologos

(ICOG) is a professional association

of geologists, a non-prot organization

created to defend and support the inter-

ests of geologists in Spain. Its main

objectives are to promote activities and

studies regarding geology and facilitatethe associated members the practice of

the profession and to carry out stud-

ies, produce reports and assessments,

elaborate statistics and other activities.

- Magyarhoni Földtani Társulan (MFT),

was established as the Hungarian Geo-

logical Society in 1848. It represents

the Hungarian experts and students

involved with geology. Its main activi-

ties are bringing together professionals

from geology and related sciences, rep-

resenting their interests and presenting

and disseminating practical and scien-

tic achievements

- The geology section of the Swedish

Association of Scientists (SACO) is a

rapidly-growing professional associa-

tion in Sweden. As a professional asso-

ciation SACO is working with questions

related to their members’ professional

career status. Important issues are qual-

ity control of education and training,

professional and ethical criteria, career

coaching and the progress of science

and research development.

Additionally, an international advisory

board, consisting of three members with

http://tuning.unideusto.org/tuningeu

http://www.foldtan.hu/

http://www.saco.se/

http://www.eurogeosurveys.org/

http://www.geoberuf.de/

http://www.icog.es/


http://www.asiin-consult.de/pages/de/asiin-consult-gmbh.php

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backgrounds in the educational as well as

professional eld, supported the project

throughout the entire project lifespan with

valuable advice and critical comments:

- Prof. Dr. Luca Demicheli (EuroGeo-

Surveys)

- Prof. Dr. Paul Ryan (Tuning EducationalStructures in Europe)

- Dr. Hans-Jürgen Weyer (BDG - German

Professional Association of Geoscien-

tists).

The outcomes

Within two years, two sets of learning

outcomes as well as criteria and proce-

dural guidelines for both the internal qual-

ity management and external assessment

of geological degree programmes have

been developed for EQF level 6 and 7 and

made public (www.euro-ages.eu). These

European outcome descriptors will serveas a reference framework for programme

development by individual higher educa-

tion institutions in the process of conceptu-

alizing or remodelling Bachelor and Mas-

ters programmes in the discipline.

Graduates having completed a First

Cycle degree should have demonstrated

the following capabilities:

Underlying basis

Basic knowledge and understanding of

the natural sciences (Physics, Chemis-

try, Mathematics) underlying the studyof Geology

Knowledge and understanding of the

essential features, processes, materi-

als, history and the development of the

Earth and life

Basic knowledge and understanding of

the key aspects and concepts of geol-

ogy, including some at the forefront of

that discipline

Knowledge of the common terminology

and nomenclature and the use of bibli-

ography in geoscience

Awareness of the wider spectrum of geo-

logical disciplines

Awareness and understanding of the tem-

poral and spatial dimensions in Earth

processes

Awareness of the applications and respon-

sibilities of geology and its role in

society including its environmental

aspects

Awareness of major geological para-

digms, the extent of geological time

and plate tectonics

Knowledge and understanding of the

complex nature of interactions within

the geosphere

Appropriate knowledge of other disciplines

relevant to geology.

Analysis, design and implementation

Ability to create simple geological

models

Some understanding of the complexity of geological problems and the feasibility

of their solution

Understanding the need of a rational use

of Earth resources

Basic ability in the formalization and

specication of problems whose solu-

tion involves the use of geological

methods

Knowledge of appropriate solution pat-

terns for geological problems

Basic ability to describe a solution at an

abstract level

Knowledge of the range of applications

of geology

Ability to integrate eld and laboratory

evidence with theory following the

sequence from observation to recogni-

tion, synthesis and modelling

Appreciation of issues concerning sample

selection, accuracy, precision and

uncertainty during collection, record-

ing and analysis of data in the eld and

laboratory

Ability to formulate and test hypotheses.

Technological, methodological and trans-

ferable skillsBasic ability to become familiar with new

geological methods and technologies

Ability to select and use relevant analytic

and modelling methods

Basic ability to apply appropriate technol-

ogy and use relevant methods

Ability to use simple quantitative meth-

ods and to apply them to geological

problems

Basic ability to independently analyze

earth materials in the eld and labora-

tory and to describe, process, document

and report the resultsAbility to undertake eld and laboratory

investigations in a responsible and safe

manner, paying due attention to risk

assessment, rights of access, relevant

health and safety regulations, and sensi-

tivity to the impact of investigations on

the environment and stakeholders

Basic ability to combine theory and prac-

tice to complete geology tasks

Ability to undertake literature searches,

and to use data bases and other sources

of information

Ability to receive and respond to a variety

of information sources (e.g. textual,

numerical, verbal, graphical)

Ability to conduct appropriate experi-

ments, to analyze and interpret data

and draw conclusions

Basic awareness of relevant state-of-the-

art technologies and their applicationBasic ability to solve numerical problems

using computer and non-computer

based techniques

Basic knowledge of the application of

information technology to geological

science

Ability to use spreadsheet and word-

processing software.

Other professional skills

Ability to complete assigned tasks in a

range of technical, economical and

social contexts

Ability to learn and study including effec-

tive time management and exibility

Awareness of the concept of professional-

ism and professional ethics

Knowledge of the economic, social,

environmental and legal conditions

expected in professional practice

Basic awareness of project management

and business practices and understand-

ing of their limitations

Ability to work effectively as an indi-

vidual and as a member of a team

Recognition of the need for, and engage-

ment in self-managed and life-long

learning

Ability to organize their own work inde-

pendently

Basic ability to formulate an acceptable

problem solution using geological

methods in a cost-effective and time-

efcient way

Basic knowledge in estimating and meas-

uring costs and productivity

Basic ability to communicate effectively

in written and verbal form with col-

leagues, other professionals, customers

and the general public about substan-tive issues and problems related to their

chosen specialization

Basic ability to prepare, process, inter-

pret and present data, using appropriate

qualitative and quantitative techniques

and packages.

Graduates having completed a Second

Cycle degree should have demonstrated

the following capabilities:

Underlying basis

Advanced knowledge and understanding



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Ages

of the principles of geology

Deeper knowledge of a chosen speciali-

zation

Critical awareness of the forefront of their

specialization

Advanced understanding of Earth system

relevant to their specializationAppreciation of the learning capacity

needed to progress to independent

research.

Analysis, design and implementation

Ability to specify and complete geologi-

cal tasks that are complex, incompletely

dened or unfamiliar

Some ability to formulate and solve prob-

lems in new and emerging areas of their

discipline

Ability to apply state-of-the-art or innova-

tive methods in problem solving, possi-

bly involving use of other disciplines

Ability to think creatively to develop new

and original approaches and methods.

Technological, methodological and transferable skills

Ability to design appropriate experiments,

to analyze and interpret data and draw

conclusions integrating knowledge

from different disciplines, and handling

complexity

Ability to use advanced, and develop cus-

tomized, quantitative methods

Comprehensive understanding of appli-cable techniques and methods for a

particular specialization, and of their

limits

Awareness of the limits of current knowl-

edge and the practical application of the

state-of-the-art technology

Knowledge and understanding of geology

to create geological models of complex

systems and processes

Basic ability to contribute to the further

development of geology in practice and

research.

Other professional competences

Ability to produce independent work in

their professional and scientic elds

Ability to manage and work effectively as

a leader of teams that may be composed

of different disciplines and levels

Basic ability to work effectively and com-

municate in national and international

contexts

Appreciation of the role of geology in

the development of knowledge, wealth

creation and improving quality of life

Ability to evaluate performance as an

individual and a team member

Ability to identify individual and collective

goals and responsibilities and to perform

in a manner appropriate to these rolesAbility to critically evaluate professional

and research papers

Ability to plan an appropriate programme

of continuing professional develop-

ment.

Further, within the scope of the surveys,

a state-of-the-art report concerning the

current status of geology in higher educa-

tion across Europe has been developed.

Accordingly, the project provided benets

to departments of geology and the aca-

demic community by engaging them in

the most important endeavour of deningleaning outcomes in geology. Also, in this

process, the employment side, companies,

and corporate members and further stake-

holders were able to feed in their expec-

tations about the qualication prole of

their future employees. The Standards and

Criteria are intended to provide a means

for reviewing the quality of higher educa-

tion geology qualications in the Euro-

pean Higher Education Area (EHEA), in

a way that encourages the dissemination

of good practice and a culture of continu-

ous improvement of geology programmes.

Given the great diversity of education ingeology across Europe, the attempt to

create framework standards comprising

all areas of the geology discipline appears

ambitious. In the course of the project

the traditional education of geologists at

European universities appeared to be in

a transition period. The design of study

programmes in geology actually drifts

to more interdisciplinary and/or special-

ized focuses and “classical” geology is

inserted in a selective way in new pro-

grammes under different titles. Therefore

the number of mere geological study pro-

grammes decreases all over Europe whilst

the interdisciplinary approach focusing on

“geosciences” gains strength. Despite this

observation the project partners decided

to continue the work on sectoral geology

outcome descriptors as they would also

be useful for the design, implementation

and quality control of study programmes

following a broader and or more inter -

disciplinary and or more specialized

educational objective. From this perspec-

tive the framework descriptors would

serve as departing point for further amend-

ments describing competencies also for the

related elds of study and the respective

interdisciplinary combinations. The Euro-

Ages framework is thus intended as a broad

common denominator, or overarching ref-

erence point, for the variety of geology

programmes. In order to allow for possible

inclusion of existing geology speciali-

zations within European Higher Educa-

tion Institutions, the framework must be

formulated in rather general terms. The

Standards and Criteria represent a quality

threshold. All graduates of programmes

assessed against the Euro-Ages standards

are expected to achieve the programme

learning outcomes stated therein. Accredi-

tation of a geology degree programme is

the primary result of a process used toensure the suitability of that programme as

providing the education base for the entry

route to professional practice. It involves

a periodic assessment against accepted

standards of higher education in geology.

Independent, third-party accreditation is

essentially based on a peer review proc-

ess, undertaken by appropriately trained

and independent teams comprising peers

from both academia and geology practice,

in accordance with agreed principles. It is

important that accreditation processes go

beyond judgement on the achievement of

a minimum standard, and effectively pro-mote the idea of continuous improvement

of the quality of higher education pro-

grammes. The Standards for Accreditation

can be used in both the design and the eval-

uation of programmes in all specializations

of geology. They are expressed as broad

generic programme-learning outcomes

that describe in general terms the capa-

bilities required of graduates from accred-

ited First Cycle and Second Cycle geology

programmes, as dened in the Framework

for Qualications of the European Higher

Education Area. Consequently, they can

be interpreted and elaborated by users to

reect the specic demands of different

cycles and specializations.

This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This publication reects the views only of the

author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be madeof the information contained therein.

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The Bologna Process, adopted cur-

rently by 47 European Nations,

aims to reform higher education in

Europe and is best summarized by the fol-

lowing statement: “The Bologna Processaims to create a European Higher Edu-cation Area by 2010, in which students

could choose from a wide and transparent range of high quality courses and benet

from smooth recognition procedures. The Bologna Declaration of June 1999 has put in motion a series of reforms needed to make European Higher Education morecompatible and comparable, more com-

petitive and more attractive for Europeansand for students and scholars from other continents. Reform was needed then and

reform is still needed today if Europe isto match the performance of the best per-

forming systems in the world, notably theUnited States and Asia. The three prioritiesof the Bologna process were: introduc-tion of the three cycle system (bachelor / master / doctorate), quality assurance and recognition of qualications and periodsof study.” (European Commission, 2009a).

This Process requires substantial changes

in the structure of degrees in countries not

already using the three cycle system, the

implementation of quality assurance pro-

cedures and of standardized mechanisms

to ensure recognition of qualications

throughout the signatory states. The legal

framework for recognition of degrees is the

Lisbon Recognition Convention (Council

of Europe, 2010) which states that signa-

tories must recognize each others’ degrees

unless substantial differences can be dem-

onstrated. Thirty seven countries had either

signed or were in the process of signing

this Convention by 2009. The ultimate aim

is that a graduate from one country has

a degree that is recognized in 46 other

European countries. In the geoscience

profession, involving large amounts of

trans-national working, such as that of the

geologist, these reforms are long overdueand are to be welcomed.

This Bologna process is supervised by

a conference of Government Ministers

from the signatory States who meet every

second year to measure progress and set

priorities for action. After Bologna (1999),

they met in Prague (2001), Berlin (2003),

Bergen (2005), London (May, 2007) and

Leuven/Louvain-La-Neuve (April, 2009)

(see the Ofcial Bologna Process website,

2010, for details). At the London meeting

Ministers adopted a strategy on how to

reach out to other continents. They also

gave the green light to create a Register

The Bologna Process:an introduction

by Paul D. Ryan1

1Earth & Ocean Sciences, NUI Galway,

Ireland. Tuning area coordinator Earth

Sciences

[email protected]

The Bologna Process, initiated in 1999and not yet completed, aims to createa single European Higher EducationArea in which degrees and diplomasare transparent and transportable.The degrees will be based upon aBachelor, Masters, Doctoral systemand should be described in terms of what the student is expected to know,understand and demonstrate after a

course of study. Mechanisms arebeing put in place which will facilitatedegree recognition throughout the 47signatory states. There will also be aEurope wide system of quality assur-ance to ensure standards. The TuningProject has developed tools to facili-tate the development of such degreesat the Institute level and has produceda template for the Earth Sciences.The Bologna Process will be of greatvalue to the Geoscience Profession asit will facilitate professional mobilitythroughout Europe.

Le Processus de Bologne, initié en1999 et pas encore achevé, vise àcréer un Espace européen unique del’enseignement supérieur dans lequel lesniveaux de qualication et les diplômessont clairement dénis et validés d’unpays à l’autre. Les qualications serontbasées selon un système comprenanttrois niveaux : la Licence, la Maîtrise etle Doctorat et devraient être présentées

de manière à préciser ce que l’on attendde l’étudiant en matières de connais-sances, de compréhension et de miseen application, à l’issue de son cursusd’études. Des mécanismes sont mis enplace qui faciliteront la reconnaissancedes qualications dans les 47 états sig-nataires. Il existera aussi un systèmeeuropéen complet d’assurance qualitépour garantir des niveaux standard. UnProjet d’Harmonisation a mis au pointdes outils pour faciliter le développe-ment de ces trois niveaux de qualica-tion et a créé un système référent pourles Sciences de la Terre. Le Processusde Bologne aura une valeur importantepour les professionnels des Géosciencescar il va faciliter leur libre circulation enEurope.

El proceso de Bolonia, que comenzóen 1999 y todavía no ha terminado,tiene como objetivo crear un Área deEducación Superior Europea en quelos títulos y diplomas sean transpar-entes y transportables. Los gradosse basarán en un sistema de Licen-ciaturas, Másteres y Doctorados y sedeberían describir en términos de loque se espera que un estudiante sepa,

entienda y pueda demostrar que sabe,tras un curso de estudio. Se estánponiendo en marcha mecanismos quefacilitarán el reconocimiento de títu-los entre los 47 estados rmantesdel acuerdo. Habrá también un sis-tema europeo de aseguramiento dela calidad para garantizar la calidadde los estudios. El proyecto Tuning hadesarrollado herramientas para facili-tar el desarrollo de dichos grados anivel de facultad y ha producido unaplantilla o modelos para el caso delas Ciencias de la Tierra. El procesode Bolonia será de gran ayuda para laprofesión de geólogo ya que facilitarála movilidad profesional en Europa.



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of European Quality Assurance Agen-

cies. These meetings dene the action

lines that each nation needs to undertake

to establish the legislative, administrative

and academic framework to implement

the Process. The action lines have been

revised with time, making the Bologna

Process a vital and ongoing process. It was

originally intended that this process should

be completed by 2010. However, in spite of

considerable progress being made at insti-

tutional, national and international levels,

these reforms are not yet complete. On

12 March 2010, Ministers from the coun-

tries participating in the Bologna Process

adopted the Budapest-Vienna Declara-

tion and ofcially launched the European

Higher Education Area. In this declaration

they note “ further work, involving staff and students, is necessary at European,national, and especially institutional levelsto achieve the European Higher Education

Area” (see the Ofcial Bologna Process

website, 2010, for details). Much work has

taken place outside of these conferences,

in particular the Tuning Project (Tuning,

2010) has developed tools to assist change

at the level of the Institutes of Higher Edu-

cation and professional programmes. The

Tuning Project is an EU-funded project

of the European Universities in which the

subject of Earth Science has been an active

area of investigation since its inception in

2000. This article will review the role of

Bologna action lines and Tuning in imple-

menting the Bologna Process within Earth

Science Higher Education in Europe.

Principle components of the Bologna

Process

The ‘Three Cycle System’ The Bologna Process requires that higher

education in signatory states follows the

so-called ‘Three Cycle System’. The basic

Bachelor (Cycle 1) degree should take

either three or four years with the Masters

(Cycle 2) degree being attained after a total

of ve years of study. The Doctorate or

Cycle 3 degree should then take another

three years after having completed both

Cycles 1 and 2. There is, however, some

variation in this system. There is a ‘Short

Cycle’ degree, usually available after two

years, in some professional courses. Also,

the length of Masters programmes varies

from one to two years to complement

the three to four years of Bachelor pro-

grammes. In a community in which free

movement is a fundamental right some

students may achieve a Masters in four

or in six years, whilst most do so in the

prescribed ve years. Also, some countries

allow students to proceed from a Bachelor

directly to a Doctorate, although increas-

ingly the Masters is deemed to be covered in

a programme of certied Doctoral training

which is in addition to the research require-

ment of that degree. Whilst there has been

considerable debate within Europe these

matters are not yet fully resolved. Figure

1 shows the proportion of degrees awarded

by countries both within and outside the

Bologna Process that correspond to the

‘Three Cycle System’ (OECD Education

at a Glance, 2010). The number of non-

Bologna compliant degrees will decrease

with time as new courses are initiated.

Quality AssuranceThe development of a pan-European Qual-

ity Assurance system for higher education

will be the driver which monitors and pro-

motes the implementation of the Bologna

reforms. This is currently a work in progress

with, in 2009, about one third of signatory

nations still only embarking on the proc-

ess. In general, the model that is followed

is that where the discipline, programme,

department, ofce, or institute produces

a self-assessment report that is critically

Figure 1. The proportion of Three Cycle System degree types in some Bologna signatory nations and in other countries worldwide. The data is extracted from OECD Education at a Glance (2010). The degrees that are ‘non-Bologna compliant’ do not correspond to the Three Cycle System (see text)

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evaluated with feedback. The evaluation

process also involves a site visit. This

process must involve students and should

be externally, preferably internationally,

validated. A set of guidelines have been

published by the European Association

for Quality Assurance in Higher Educa-

tion (ENQA, 2009) whose purpose is to

establish European standards for internal

and external quality assurance, external

quality assurance agencies and a European

register of quality assurance agencies. The

quality of degree programmes in all signa-

tory states will, therefore, follow similar,

regular, validated assessments, effectively

removing the argument that degrees in one

state are of a different quality from those

in another.

Recognition of Degrees and Diplomas

The main international legal text that aimsto further the fair recognition of qualica-

tions is the Council of Europe/UNESCO

Convention on the Recognition of Quali-

cations concerning Higher Education in

the European Region (Lisbon Recogni-

tion Convention, see Council of Europe,

2010). The recognition of qualications is

the responsibility of each country, mean-

ing that higher education institutions are

responsible for the recognition of quali-

cations for the purpose of further study

whereas professional bodies or employers

are responsible for recognition for the pur-

poses of the labour market. There are manyaspects to the recognition of higher educa-

tional qualications throughout Europe;

however, the European Credit Transfer and

Accumulation System, the Diploma Sup-

plement and Qualication Frameworks are

essential requirements for this to happen.

The European Credit Transfer and Accu-mulation SystemThe European Credit Transfer and Accu-

mulation System (ECTS) is the fundamen-

tal tool that allows comparison of courses

and degrees across Europe. ECTS grew

out of the need for transportable certica-

tion for students who took part of their

course work abroad under such schemes

as Erasmus Mundus. However, this system

must now be applied to all courses and

programmes and a comprehensive set of

guidelines for the correct implementa-

tion of ECTS has recently been published

(European Commission, 2009). A year of

study, which comprises about 1500 hours

of total student commitment (not to be

confused with formal timetabled contact

hours), permits the award of 60 ECTS

credits on satisfactory completion, that is

when the student passes all the assess-

ments for that year. A Bachelor degree,

therefore, requires a minimum of 180 and

a maximum of 240 ECTS credits. It should

also be noted that these credits must be

cumulative, in other words the student

needs to acquire them at the level of each

year of study. Some ECTS credits can be

acquired at a lower level, but this limited

facility exists only to allow students to

take other ‘minor’ subjects. The European

Commission may award an ECTS Label to

an institution of higher education that ‘has shown excellence in applying the EuropeanCredit Transfer and Accumulation System(ECTS) and the Diploma Supplement (DS)’(see below). At the time of writing only 65

IHEs (approximately 1% of the total) have

been awarded such Labels, but this number

is bound to grow especially as it will give a

competitive advantage to those IHEs who possess such Labels in terms of attracting

international students.

Diploma Supplement The Diploma Supplement is the instrument

whereby an institution of higher education

gives a full and transportable account of a

student’s achievements. It accompanies a

locally awarded higher education diploma

and provides a standardized description of

the nature, level, context, content and status

of the studies completed by its holder. This

product should not only make it easier for

students to study abroad, but also shouldassist with professional mobility. IHEs can

be awarded a Diploma Supplement Label

in addition to the ECTS label.

National and European Qualication

FrameworksThese Frameworks (NQF/EQF) describe

the qualications of an education system

and how they interlink. National qualica-

tions frameworks describe what learners

should know, understand and be able to do

on the basis of a given qualication as well

as how learners can move from one quali-

cation to another within a system. They

apply to all levels of educational attainment

covering school, workplace training, and

higher education. The European Qualica-

tions Framework (European Commission,

2008) provides a meta framework through

which individual NQFs can be compared.

The NQFs take priority and may differ

in detail from the EQF, but must have an

agreed mapping onto the EQF. The aim is

to provide both individuals and employ-

ers with a tool to compare the qualica-

tions levels of different countries, different

education and different training systems.

Few countries yet have fully implemented

externally validated NQFs and about one

third of signatory states are only embark-

ing on the process. An example of the

mapping between an NQF and the EQF is

provided in Ireland where Cycle 1 degrees

can be either of 180 ECTS credits (Level 7

or ‘Ordinary Bachelors Degrees’) or 240

ECTS credits (Level 8 or ‘Honours Bach-

elors Degrees’ or ‘Higher Diplomas’) in

the NQF (see www.nqf.ie) which map to

Level 6 (Bachelors Degrees) of the EQF.

MobilityThe Ministers responsible for Higher

Education in the countries participating

in the Bologna Process in the communi-

que following the London Conference in

May 2007 issued the following statement.

“Mobility of staff, students and gradu-

ates is one of the core elements of the Bologna Process, creating opportunities for personal growth, developing interna-tional cooperation between individualsand institutions, enhancing the quality of higher education and research, and giving

substance to the European dimension”.

Workplace and society

In the Leuven Communiqué of 2009 the

Ministers identied a list of priorities for

the coming decade, which included: the

social dimension of higher education;

lifelong learning; employability. A recent

Eurobarometer Survey, FLASH 260,(European Commission, 2009b) among

students in higher education reported that

the vast majority of students want: wider

access to higher education; universities

to further develop cooperation with the

world of work; wider access to lifelong

learning. In particular: 97% wanted the

knowledge and skills they needed to be

successful in the labour market, 91% rec-

ognized the need for personal develop-

ment; 87% supported the principal that

education should facilitate people to play

an active role in society; a similar propor -

tion agreed that higher education should

“ foster innovation and an entrepreneurial mindset among students and staff, and that there should be a possibility to undertakework placements in private enterprises as

part of a study programme” (European

Commission, 2009b). The Bologna Proc-

ess should provide a platform for better

cooperation between IHEs, industry and

society. Something that may prove crucial

if the geoscience profession is going to

meet the challenges of the future.

The recognition of prior learning (RPL)

and lifelong learning (LLL) are also essential

http://www.nqf.ie/

http://www.nqf.ie/

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in this regard. RPL will allow a profes-

sional to apply to an IHE to have their

prior learning assessed. RPL provides a

mechanism by which individuals with

prior learning obtained through life experi -

ence and/or formal education and/or work

experience are assessed for entry onto, for

credit towards and/or for exemption from

components of a higher education quali-

cation. Correct implementation of RPL

should well provide a platform for better

industry-IHE cooperation and, by allowing

access to educational programmes, will

contribute signicantly to a professional

geologist’s lifetime programme of con-

tinuous personal development. Lifelong

learning, which will now be integrated

into the NQFs is also very important in

this context, as well as helping serve the

needs of an ageing population and the

economic requirement to move towards‘knowledge based economies’. Both RPL

and LLL require more exible, student-

centred modes of delivery (for example,

part-time course work at times convenient

for in-job training and new methods of

distance learning) and the widening access

to higher education.

The London Ministerial Communiqué,

May, 2007, (see UK Government, 2007)

states “ Higher education should play a strong role in fostering social cohesion,reducing inequalities and raising the level of knowledge, skills and competences in

society. Policy should therefore aim tomaximize the potential of individuals interms of their personal development and their contribution to a sustainable and democratic knowledge-based society”.

Joint Degrees

The Bologna Process has paved the way

for increasingly innovative, cooperative,

cross border study programmes. The so-

called “Joint Degree” has recently become

one of the most cited examples, and such

joint degree programmes are springing up

across Europe. The programmes leading to

Joint Degrees are developed or approved

jointly by several institutions. Students

from each participating institution study

for a signicant part of the programme

(as opposed to short exchanges) at insti-

tutions other than the one in which they

register. Teaching staff from each partici-

pating institution devise and administer

the curriculum together and participate in

mobility for teaching purposes. Periods

of study and exams passed at the part-

ner institution(s) are recognized fully

and automatically by all institutions and

countries involved. The students who have

completed the full programme should obtain

a degree awarded jointly by the participat-

ing institutions, and fully recognized in all

countries. Whilst the current development

of Joint Degree programmes is relatively

slow, mainly because many countries are

still in the process of implementing the

Bologna reforms at institutional level,

this exciting development will undoubt-

edly become very important in the future,

especially for careers in geoscience, which

require workers to be mobile and able to

work in different societies and under dif -

ferent conditions.

Tuning higher educational structures in

Europe

This started in 2000 as a project to link the

political objectives of the Bologna Proc-

ess and the Lisbon Strategy to the higher

educational sector. Over time, Tuning hasdeveloped into a Process, adopted by 58

countries world-wide, designed to assist in

the (re-)design, development, implemen-

tation, evaluation and quality enhancement

in rst, second and third cycle degree pro-

grammes. The motto of Tuning is “Tuning of educational structures and programmeson the basis of diversity and autonomy”.

This project was initiated by Julia

Gonzalez, University of Duesto, Bilbao

and Robert Wagener, Groningen Univer -

sity. Whilst funded by the EU, Tuning was

in effect the Universities’ response to the

challenges of the Bologna Process. Sub- ject area groups of experts from across

Europe, which included geoscience from

the outset, were set up to try to develop the

educational tools required by the Process.

These groups also met in plenary session to

develop the broader language and policies

required. Tuning has been highly inuential

within the Bologna Process. The adoption

by the Ministers in their Berlin Commu-

niqué of 2003 of the following statement

“Ministers encourage the member Statesto elaborate a framework of comparableand compatible qualications for their

higher education systems, which should seek to describe qualications in terms of

workload, level, learning outcomes, competences and prole. They also undertake

to elaborate an overarching framework of qualications for the Higher Education

Area” was directly a result of this work.

This policy required a move from ‘input,

teacher oriented’ programmes such as

dening a degree by giving a list of topics

to be studied, to ‘outcome, student ori-

ented’ programmes. A learning outcome is

dened as ‘ statements of what a learner is

expected to know, understand and be able

to demonstrate after completion of a learning experience’ (Tuning, 2008). Competences,

be they subject specic or generic and

more related to life and the workplace,

‘represent a dynamic combination of cog-nitive and meta-cognitive skills, knowl-edge, and understanding, interpersonal,intellectual and practical skills and ethical values’ (Tuning, 2008). This model for a

programme of study requires careful de-

nition of the competences the student must

acquire, the outcomes they must success-

fully demonstrate at the end of the course,

the exact prole and level of the course and

the student commitment required in terms

of total workload, not just contact hours.

It not only gives students a clear idea of

what is expected from them but it also pro-

vides a platform whereby outcomes other

than exam scripts, for example publicly

presenting the results of project work, can be assessed and assigned ECTS credits.

Whilst there is considerable variation

between educational traditions, students

can expect to receive 1 ECTS credit for

every 25 ± 5 hours of study satisfactorily

completed.

The SAGs have developed internation-

ally validated templates to assist in the

development of courses following this

model. The template for the Earth Sci-

ences (Ryan et al ., 2010) is available from

the Tuning website. This template recog-

nizes the enormous breadth of subjects that

fall within the remit of Earth Science (letalone the wider Earth System Sciences)

and is extremely careful not to recom-

mend a ‘standard curriculum’. However,

it does elucidate the fundamental under-

lying Generic and Subject Specic com-

petences which are required to study the

Earth. The template also requires that any

Earth Science training programme should

include an appropriate amount of eld

work, particularly at the Cycle 1 level,

as “it is impossible to properly analyzeand interpret eld-based data, whether

collected directly or remotely, without anunderstanding of its inherent limitations”(Ryan et al ., 2010).

Although the Tuning Europe Project

formally ended in 2009, a Tuning Academy

was launched in September 2010 whose

aim is to promote training and research

to support the Bologna Process. The Min-

sters state in 2009 (see: http://www.ond.

vlaanderen.be/hogeronderwijs/bologna/

conference/documents/Leuven_Louvain-

la-Neuve_Communiqu%C3%A9_April_

2009.pdf ) that “the potential and wide- spread signicance of learning outcomes

is only just beginning to be realized .... For

http://www.ond.vlaanderen.be/hogeronderwijs/bologna/conference/documents/Leuven_Louvain-la-Neuve_Communiqu%C3%A9_April_2009.pdf










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this sort of bottom-up approach there is aneed for fundamental change at institutional level ”. It is the aim of the Tuning Academy

to meet this challenge. The Earth Sciences

will be represented in this endeavour.

Conclusions

Although there is still a lot more work to do,

the Bologna Process is creating a European

framework in which professional geolo-

gists should nd it much easier to work

in countries other than the one where they

qualied. The need to restructure degree

programmes in a manner that is more

student centred and takes into account the

needs of society and the workplace pro-

vides our profession with a unique oppor -

tunity to contribute towards high training

standards in European higher education.

References and resources

Council of Europe. 2010. (http://

www.coe.int/t/dg4/highereducation/

recognition/1rc_EN.asp).

ENQA. 2009. ESG Standards and

Guidelines for Quality Assurance in

the European Higher Education Area -

3rd edition. (http://www.enqa.eu/les/

ESG_3edition%20(2).pdf ).

European Commission. 2010. (http://

www.ec.europa.eu/education/higher-

education/doc1290_en.htm).

European Commission. 2009a. ECTS

Users’ Guide, third edition. (http://

ec.europa.eu/education/lifelong-learn-

ing-policy/doc/ects/guide_en.pdf ).

European Commission. 2008 The

European Qualications Framework

for lifelong learning (EQF). (http://

www.ec.europa.eu/education/pub/pdf/

general/eqf/broch_en.pdf ).

European Commission. 2009b. Stu-

dents and Higher Education Reform:

Survey among students in higher edu-

cation institutions in the EU Member

States, Croatia, Iceland, Norway and

Turkey. (http://ec.europa.eu/public_

opinion/ash/_260_en.pdf ).

OECD Education at a Glance. 2010.

(http://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/educa-

tion/highlights-from-education-at-a-

glance-2010_eag_highlights-2010-

en).

Ofcial Bologna Process website.

2010. (http://www.ond.vlaanderen.be/

hogeronderwijs/bologna/).

Ryan, P. D., Pereira, E., Anceau, A.,

Beunk, F., Boulton, G., Canals, A., Del-

pouve, B. Dramis, F., Gehör, S., Greil-

ing, R., Tvis Knudsen, N., Mansy, J-L.,

Meilliez, F., Nogueira, P., Petrakakis,

K., Roeleveld, W., Sanderson, D., Sta-

bell, B., Weiszburg, T. 2010. Reference

Points for the Design and Delivery of

Degree Programmes in Earth Science.

(http://www.tuning.unideusto.org/tun-

ingeu/index.php?option=com_docman

&task=docclick&Itemid=59&bid=113

&limitstart=0&limit=5).

Tuning. 2008. Universities´ contribu-

tion to the Bologna Process: An intro-

duction (2nd Edition) (http://tuning.

unideusto.org/tuningeu/images/sto-

ries/Publications/Tuning_General_

Brochure_english.jpg).

Tuning. 2009. (http://tuning.unideusto.

org/tuningeu/index.php).

UK Government. 2007. (http://www.

dfes.gov.uk/londonbologna/uploads/

documents/LondonCommuniquenal-

withLondonlogo.pdf ).

http://www.slrconsulting.com/


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http://www.enqa.eu/files/ESG_3edition%20(2).pdf


http://www.ec.europa.eu/education/higher-education/doc1290_en.htm



http://ec.europa.eu/education/lifelong-learning-policy/doc/ects/guide_en.pdf



http://www.ec.europa.eu/education/pub/pdf/general/eqf/broch_en.pdf



http://ec.europa.eu/public_opinion/flash/fl_260_en.pdf


http://http//www.oecd-ilibrary.org/education/highlights-from-education-at-a-glance-2010_eag_highlights-2010-en





http://www.ond.vlaanderen.be/hogeronderwijs/bologna


http://www.tuning.unideusto.org/tuningeu/index.php?option=com_docman&task=docclick&Itemid=59&bid=113&limitstart=0&limit=5





http://tuning.unideusto.org/tuningeu/images/stories/Publications/Tuning_General_Brochure_english.jpg




http://tuning.unideusto.org/tuningeu/index.php


http://www.dfes.gov.uk/londonbologna/uploads/documents/LondonCommuniquefinalwithLondonlogo.pdf










































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Over the past year, the partners in the

Euro-Ages project have worked

towards developing a European

qualication framework for geology, in the

rst and second cycles dened by the Bolo-

gna Process, based on learning outcomes

rather than input factors (course curricula).The objectives of the work are to increase

transparency of Earth Sciences qualica-

tions across Europe and therefore to facili-

tate improved academic and professional

mobility across Europe. At the same time,

the project aims to encourage students and

graduates in the eld of geology, as well as

professional geologists, to pursue Lifelong

Learning. The project objectives are being

achieved through a structured exchange of

best practices, expertise and characteristics

of professional practices in geology in the

different European countries. Important

reference points have been identied for

quality assurance and related recognition

issues focused on learning outcomes. The

project is supported by the European Com-

mission, DG Education and Culture.

One of the rst steps was to map the

existing qualications for geology in

formal, non-formal and informal settings

and to link these to national qualication

systems. The European Federation of Geol-

ogists was the coordinator of this study.

A precedent of this study is the Report on Education, Professional Activity and

Recognition of Qualications , EFG Ofce,

July, 2005. The objective of this document

was to report on the status of Earth Sci -

ences education and professional training,

with the aim of achieving the harmoniza-tion of Earth Sciences curricula, to inform

on general aspects of Earth Sciences pro-

fessional activities, to establish the map of

different specialties and to promote the rec-

ognition of qualications and the mobility

of professionals. The data analyzed in this

report were derived from a questionnaire

on education and training that was sent to

the EFG National Associations.

The present article is based on the report

for European Accredited Geological Study

Programmes, Euro-Ages project, 2010.

The data come from the summary reports

produced by 27 European Countries:

Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Cyprus, Den-

mark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany,

Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy,

Latvia, Lithuania, Netherlands, Norway,

Portugal, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Slo-

vakia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and

United Kingdom (Fig. 1).

Each country has produced a summary

with the following structure:

- Status of implementation of Bologna

process

- Education in Geology, including;

•The structure of education

•Universities offering geological pro

grammes

•Number of freshman students and

graduates in the country

- Learning outcomes;

•Denition of learning outcomes•Academic and professional learning

outcomes and competence proles for

study

•Programmes in geology

•Example of programme structure for

education

- Professional input to course structure

- Teaching course accreditation systems.

The full report with the 27 summary coun-

tries is available on the Euro-Ages Project

website, European Accredited Geological

Study Programmes, Euro-Ages project,

2010.This article is focused on the imple-

mentation of the Bologna Process, educa-

tion in geology, professional prerequisite

and accreditation systems. The Learning

Outcome is presented in this magazine

(p. 19).

Status of implementation of the Bologna

Process

In most European counties the establish-

ment of education in accordance with the

Bologna process is well advanced. Most

geology degree courses have switched to

the three cycle style of courses and the rst

Mapping the European geologicalqualication

by Dr. Isabel Fernández Fuentes1 and David Norbury2

1EFG Ofce Director 2

Chairman, EFG Registration Authority

European geologists sometimes askthemselves how their qualicationis related to similar qualications inother European countries. The Euro-pean Federation of Geologists has triedto answer this and other questionson European qualication in Geologyunder Euro-Ages, a European projectfunded by the European Union, DGEducation and Lifelong Learning Pro-

gramme. One of the rst challenges of this project has been to map geologi-cal qualications within the EU coun-tries. The main data from this studyare presented in this article.

Les géologues européens se posentparfois la question de savoir à quoi cor-respond leur niveau de qualication parrapport à des qualications comparables,délivrées dans d’autres pays européens.La Fédération Européenne des Géologuesa essayé de répondre à cette question et àd’autres interrogations touchant la quali-cation des géologues en Europe, à traversEuro-Ages, un Projet européen nancé par

l’Union européenne, le Programme pourl’Education et la Formation, tout au long dela vie. L’un des premiers dés de ce projeta consisté à recenser les qualications engéologie pour chaque pays européen. Cetarticle présente les principaux résultatstirés de cette étude.

Los geólogos europeos a veces sepreguntan en qué medida su títuloacadémico se relaciona con títulossimilares en otros países de Europa.La Federación Europea de Geólogosha tratado de responder a esta y otrasinquietudes sobre las titulacioneseuropeas de geología con el proyectoEuro-Ages, un proyecto nanciado porel Programa de Aprendizaje de por

Vida de la DG de Educación y Culturade la Comisión Europea. Uno de losprimeros retos del proyecto ha sidocartograar las titulaciones geológicasen los países de la UE. Los principalesdatos de este estudio se incluyen eneste artículo.

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Figure 6: Credits required for rst and second cycle degrees

Figure 7. Numbers of hours per ECTS credit

Figure 8. Number of universities teaching geology

Figure 5. Total duration of the rst and second cycles (%) in the

countries involved in mapping European Geological Qualication Figure 4. Duration of the rst cycle (%) in the countries

involved in mapping European Geological Qualication

generally reduced as a result of implemen-

tation of the Bologna agreement, although

this may have been due to other factors. For

instance, in Denmark, the number of HEIs

has reduced from 12 to 8, but there is a view

that this has contributed to a strengthening

of teaching and research activities.

The number of universities offering

geology degree courses varies widely from

country to country (Fig. 8). The number of

places available is usually higher than the

intake of students each year.

Number of freshman students and graduatesThe number of freshmen taken onto B.Sc.

geology courses varies widely, as might

be expected. The number of freshmen is

generally lower than the number of places

available nationally to study geology. The

number of graduates per year is markedly

lower than the number of freshmen. The

number of B.Sc. graduates with respect to

B.Sc. freshmen per year ranges from 92%in the UK to 35% in Germany.

The number of places on M.Sc. courses

is lower and the fall-off rate is also lower

(Fig. 9).

The UK is the country with the larg-

est number of B.Sc. graduates in geology

(1300/year), of which just over 11% con-

tinued to the M.Sc. degree. However in

other countries, students continuing to the

second cycle is over 80%.

Incomplete information has been pro-

vided on employment of graduates, but it

appears that the countries with the larger

number of students achieve lower employ-

ment rates in geology than smaller coun-

tries.

Professional

prerequisites

It is generally the situ-

ation across Europe

that the requisite

knowledge and skills

are set by the course

developers within the

universities rather

than by the institu-tions that represent

the profession in post

graduate practice.

There is however

likely to be an implicit

linkage in that the

course designers and

providers are them-

selves practising pro-

fessionals and will be

aware of the require-

ments of professional

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Figure 9a. Numbers of freshmen and graduates (full scale)

practice and incorporate these matters into

their teaching programmes. This linkage

is most apparent in Finland in connection

with the strong mining inuence, in Italy

and Spain where the profession is regulated

by law, and in the UK where degree courses

are accredited by the professional body

(Geological Society of London).

Accreditation systems

Most countries offer some form of accredi-

tation of their degree programmes. The

level of accreditation varies from inter-

nally within the university, to review by the

government education ministry to national

quality agencies. In addition, the accredi-

tation is provided by the relevant profes-

sional institution in Italy and UK.The dis-

tribution of use of the various accreditation

providers is shown in Figure 10.

Conclusion

Using the information obtained in the 27

summaries of national reports on the Bolo-

gna process, higher education in geology,

professional pre-requisites and accredi-

tation, the following conclusions can be

reached:

- In most European counties the establish-

ment of education in accordance with

the Bologna process is well advanced

- Most geology degree courses have

switched to the three cycle style of

courses and the rst students are nowundergoing this training

- The cycles of education being delivered

are in accord with the Bologna three

levels, namely Bachelor (normally 3

years), Masters (1 – 2 years) and Ph.D.

(3 years). The data collected in this

study show that the duration of each

cycle varies between different coun-

tries

- The required number of ECTS credits

for a Bachelor degree in Geology varies

between 180 and 240, and the number

of ECTS credits at Masters level varies

between 120 and 180

- The number of universities offering

Figure 9b. Numbers of freshmen and graduates (expanded scale)

Figure 10. Use of courseaccreditation providers

Bibliography

Report on Education, Professional

Activity and Recognition of Qualica-

tions, EFG Ofce. July, 2005. (http://

www.eurogeologists.eu/imags/con-

tent/Documents/Geo-Job_Market_

Survey.pdf ).

European Accredited Geologi-

cal Study Programmes, Euro-Ages

project. 2010. (http://www.euro-ages.

eu/media/Survey_Results_Country_ Abstracts.pdf ).

geology degree courses varies widely

from country to country. The number

of places available is usually higher than

the intake of students each year

- The number of graduates per year is

markedly lower than the number of

freshmen

- Accreditation of course materials is car-

ried out by a variety of agencies includ-

ing internally in the university, external

quality agencies, the relevant govern-

ment ministry and national professional

bodies.

http://www.eurogeologists.eu/imags/content/Documents/Geo-Job_Market_Survey.pdf





http://www.euro-ages.eu/media/Survey_Results_Country_Abstracts.pdf










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Ireland has had a professional body for

geoscientists, the Institute of Geolo-

gists of Ireland [IGI], since 1999. It

was therefore very appropriate that the

Euro-Ages programme was initiated when

it was. The Bologna process has had an

increasing inuence on university educa-

tion in Ireland and this is no better seen than

in developments in geological education.

Geology is offered in Irish universities

as part of Bachelor degree programmes in

Science [B.Sc.] and at the Masters [M.Sc.]

and Ph.D. levels. There are presently no

taught M.Sc. programmes though there

have been in the past.

At the B.Sc. level, geology is included

in 3-year [level 7] and 4-year [level 8]

degrees. In the 3-year degree, geology

is included with one or two other sci-

ences whereas in the 4-year degree there

is increased specialization in the last two

years and the nal year is entirely or almost

completely concentrated on geology. The

nal year is dedicated to enhanced spe-

cialized teaching in the main areas andexposure to specialities that may be unique

to a particular institution. All programmes

contain elements of Applied / Economic

Geology. The 4-year geology degree

programmes are only offered in four uni-

versities in the Republic of Ireland but

programmes with some geological content

are also available in Northern Ireland. In

the Republic the proliferation of choice

has resulted in a variety of degrees with

signicant geological content. There are

three 4-year degrees in Geology, two in

Earth Science, one in Earth and Ocean

Science, one in Climate and Earth System

Science and four in Environmental Sci-

ence. Geology can also be combined with

another science or Archaeology. In North-

ern Ireland, geology forms part of degrees

in Environmental Science and in Geogra-

phy. All courses have specied learning

outcomes and courses in mathematics and

other sciences are required as a foundation.

Particular subjects in geology are compul-

sory for all degree programmes.

At the M.Sc. level, students submit a

dissertation but there are no formal course

requirements as it forms part of the Bolo-

gna 3+2 combination, but some students

may be required for some courses, to ll

gaps in their backgrounds. The B.Sc. and

M.Sc. combination takes 5 years of which

4 come from the Honours B.Sc. and one

for the M.Sc. Taught M.Sc. programmes

in geoscience were discontinued several

years ago due to staff shortages.

At the Ph.D. level, all universities are

introducing structured Ph.D. programmeswherein students are required to attend

courses that are considered necessary

by their supervisors. The loads will vary

according to the needs of the individual

and will normally be completed in the early

part of the Ph.D. programme.

The Irish Geoscience Graduate Pro-

gramme [IGGP] was launched in Sep-

tember 2010 and is designed to develop

complimentary to structured Ph.D. pro-

grammes. Sixteen modules are presently

offered which are generally valued at 2.5-5

ECTS credits. Modules offer both generic

and speciality-based skills and include

lecture / seminar, laboratory and eld-

based training. Irish geoscience depart-

ments / schools are typically small with

up to ten academic staff, many with unique

specialities. IGGP is intended to develop

as a virtual graduate school. Although it

was conceived to support Ph.D. students,

it can be developed in the future to include

M.Sc. students as well. This may be a way

to reintroduce taught M.Sc. programmes

by combining the expertise of two or more

institutions to mount a particular single

programme.

The IGI would demand that universi-

ties produce graduates who would expect

to become professionally accredited after

5 years professional experience. Those

whose work takes them abroad, a large

number in Ireland, would also expect

to apply for the professional European

accreditation of European Geologist (Eur-

Geol.). Geologists can be accredited by IGI

and/or EFG. Both organizations require a

minimum of 3 years academic training at

an approved 3

rd

level institution, 5 years professional experience and a demonstra-

tion of their professional competence with

submission of professional client reports

and/or published peer-reviewed papers

and they will be called for interview

Universities awarding geology degrees

to geologists who are applying for the Pro-

fessional Geologist title (PGeo) have been

examined to ensure that they are of a suf-

cient standard. IGI maintains a list of these

approved academic bodies. IGI does not

accredit particular degree programmes but

accredits individuals based upon academic

background and professional experience.

The Euro-Ages programme and Irelandby Michael J. [Ben] Kennedy1

1Retired Dean of Science, University

College Dublin

Irish Universities provide taught and/

or research degrees at B.Sc., M.Sc.and Ph.D. levels which accord with theBologna process. The Irish GeoscienceGraduate Programme, launched inSeptember 2010, allows students toacquire credits for modules in genericor research topics which may be takenin any Irish University. The Instituteof Geologists of Ireland, a memberof the EFG, accredits graduates fromapproved universities with sufcientprofessional experience.

Les Universités irlandaises délivrent des

diplômes d’enseignement et de recher-che aux niveaux Licence, Maîtrise etDoctorat, qui sont en conformité avecle Processus de Bologne. Le Programmediplômant irlandais en Géosciences,lancé en septembre 2010, permet auxétudiants d’acquérir des unités de valeurde modules appartenant à des mat-ières génériques ou de recherches quipeuvent être reconnues par n’importequelle Université en Irlande. L’Institutdes Géologues d’Irlande, membre de laFEG, accrédite les diplômes d’Universités

agréées, tenant compte d’une expéri-ence professionnelle sufsante.

Las universidades irlandesas imparten

formación docente y en investigaciónpara licenciaturas, másteres y docto-rados que cumplen el proceso de Bolo-nia. El Programa Irlandés de Gradu-ados en Ciencias de la Tierra, que selanzó en septiembre de 2010, permitea los estudiantes conseguir créditospara módulos en temas genéricos ode investigación que luego puedenutilizarse en cualquier universidadirlandesa. El Instituto de los Geólogosirlandeses, que es miembro de la FEG,acredita a los graduados de las uni-versidades ociales que demuestrensuciente experiencia profesional.

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The learning outcomes identied in

the programme have been dened

elsewhere (see Fernandez, I. and

Norbury, D., this magazine, p. 14) and

represent quality standards for competen-

cies, skills and knowledge. Graduates of an

accredited course at rst or second cycle

programme level (Bachelor and Masters

level respectively) would be expected to

have achieved initial levels of ability from

their academic training and studies as the

basis for starting to practise geology pro-

fessionally.

This paper describes the learning out-

come level that would be expected when

students have gained sufcient profes-sional post-graduation experience and are

ready to submit their combined training

and experience prole for validation by

their peers, in other words to apply for the

professional title of European Geologist

(EurGeol.) or similar in their own coun-

try.

Attainment levels

Four levels of attainment are generally

identied which have to be demonstrated

for the geologist to progress from one cycle

to the next. These are given in Table 1.

In general terms, the graduate at rst

cycle level is expected to be able to dem-

onstrate Appreciation or Knowledge in all

learning outcome categories. The second

cycle graduate will have progressed to a

demonstration of Knowledge or Experi-

ence in nearly all categories. The applicant

for a professional title will be expected to

display Ability in all categories, as outlined

in Table 2. This will normally require an

absolute minimum of three years post-

graduate professional experience and more

will usually be required, notwithstanding

the length of the academic training, in

order that the applicant will have been

able to gather sufcient experience to be

able to demonstrate this depth and breadth

of Ability.

Learning outcomes

The requisite learning outcomes identied

within the project are ranged under four

categories as shown in Table 2 which also

identies the relevant professional quali-

cation criteria levels which are discussed

below.

Professional qualication criteria

The demonstration of Ability in all of these

learning outcomes will be assessed by the

Learning outcomes and skill levelsfor qualication as a Professional

Geologistby David Norbury1

1Chairman, EFG Registration Authority

The primary aim of the Euro-Agesproject is the development of a Euro-pean level qualication framework forgeology based on learning outcomes.In this context, learning outcomesare dened as statements of what alearner is expected to know, to under-stand and/or be able to demonstrate.The expectation of the level of learningor ability that a student should be ableto demonstrate will increase throughthe gathering of training and experi-ence until such time as they apply forthe award of a professional title.

Le premier objectif du Projet Euro-Ages est le développement d’un cadreeuropéen de travail concernant leniveau de qualication en géologiebasé sur les compétences acquises.Dans ce contexte, ces compétencessont dénies comme le niveau de con-naissances qu’un étudiant doit pos-séder, comprendre et être à mêmed’utiliser pratiquement. Le niveau deconnaissances acquises et la capacitéde l’étudiant à les utiliser représen-tent une forte attente qui augmenteraconjointement avec son niveau de for-mation et son expérience jusqu’à cequ’ils lui permettent d’obtenir un titreprofessionnel.

El objetivo principal del proyecto Euro-Ages es el desarrollo de un marco derequisitos mínimos para la formaciónen geología, basado en los resultadosdel aprendizaje. En este contexto losresultados del aprendizaje se denencomo aquellos conocimientos que seespera que un estudiante aprenda,entienda o sea capaz de demostrarque sabe. Las expectativas del nivelde aprendizaje o de habilidad que unestudiante sea capaz de demostraraumentará a medida que va adquir-iendo formación y experiencia hastaque pueda llegar a solicitar un títuloprofesional.

Table 1 Levels of attainment

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Table 2. (pp 20 & 21) Learning Outcome categories mapped onto professional qualication criteria

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peer reviewers in accordance with the fol -

lowing criteria which are set down by EFG

regulation.

Although these criteria are shown as

applying to particular examples of learn-

ing outcomes in Table 2, all criteria should

be taken as applying to all aspects of a

professional competence. This applies in

particular to criteria 3, 4, 5 and 6.

Additional detail on the learning out-

come categories and the professional

achievement levels is given at the follow-

ing link: http://www.euro-ages.eu/pages/

intermediate-results.php

The framework of criteria and achieve-

ment levels developed within the Euro-

Ages project should increase awareness

of the Earth Sciences qualications. This

is intended to facilitate academic and pro-

fessional mobility across Europe while at

the same time stimulating students andgraduates in the eld of geology as well

as professional geologists to pursue Life

Table 3. Qualiation criteria as referenced in Table 2

Long Learning. The mapping carried out

will provide important reference points

for quality assurance and related recogni-

tion issues focused on learning outcomes,

thereby adding value in the implementa-tion of the 2005 Directive on recognition

of qualications.

The major stakeholders in the eld of

higher education in geology can therefore

use the results from this project to develop

a Europe-wide qualications framework

for the teaching and training of geologiststo provide the qualied professionals that

are needed by industry in Europe.

http://www.euro-ages.eu/pages/intermediate-results.php




http://www.stump.eu/

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The predecessor of the University of

Miskolc, the Bergschule in Schem-

nitz (now Banska Stiavnica, Slova-

kia) is one of the oldest mining schools in

Europe. Since its foundation in 1735, we

are now completing the 265th academic

year. The early focus on mining and metal-

lurgical engineering has been widely diver -

sied today; the teaching now extends toeight faculties and one institute of music.

The Faculty of Earth Science Engineering

preserves the mining traditions and deals

with both the traditional and pioneering

branches of Earth Sciences and technolo-

gies, from mining through petroleum engi-

neering to environmental engineering and

geoinformatics. To date, there are more

than 1,000 students and 60 teaching staff in

the faculty. Since the industrial companies

are our main customers, special attention

has always been paid to the industrial rela-

tions of the Faculty.

Earth Science Engineering curricula

The Bologna system was introduced in

2006. Before that date, 5-year courses

offered a Diploma from the different branches of Earth Science Engineering,

with the possibility of continuing with 3

years of PhD studies.

Since that time Earth Science and Engi-

neering subjects have been taught at B.Sc.,

M.Sc. and Ph.D. levels. Three curricula

are offered at a B.Sc. level (Earth Science

Engineering, Environmental Engineering,

Geography). The Earth Science and Engi-

neering B.Sc. covers all main areas of the

extractive industry with minor specializa-

tions in: exploration geology and geophys-

ics, mining and geotechnical engineering,

process engineering, as well as oil and gas

production and upstream activities. This

B.Sc. programme in Hungary is offered

uniquely in the University of Miskolc.

Several engineering M.Sc. courses

are linked to these basic courses, such as

Hydrogeology, Petroleum and Gas Engi-

neering, Applied Earth Sciences (Geology

and Geophysics) and Process Engineering.

The Faculty is afliated to internationalM.Sc. programmes, such as the Federation

of European Mining Programmes (in con-

sortium with TU Wroclaw, TU Freiberg,

U of Exeter, TU Delft, TU Aachen and

TU Helsinki). At the Ph.D. level several

students graduate each year, from Geol-

ogy, Geophysics, Mining Engineering,

Petroleum Engineering, Hydrogeology

and Environmental Engineering.

Training of geologists and geophysicists

In these training schemes geologists and

geophysicists graduate as Earth Science

Engineers, with Geology, Geophysics,

How academia and industry createProfessional Geologists

University of Miskolc, Hungary

by Janos Foldessy1 and Ferenc Madai2

1Professor, Head of Department2Vice-dean, Faculty of Earth Science

Engineering

The University of Miskolc is the onlyplace in Hungary where Earth Sciencefor engineers is taught at BSc, MScand PhD levels. Industrial relations arevery important for the university, thestudents and industry. During recentdecades several types of cooperationhave been developed. Among these,

the compulsory company contribu-tions for the Professional EducationFund is perhaps the most important.This contribution sets the nancialbackground for practical training, stu-dent internships and scholarships aswell as acquisition of equipment andprovision of laboratories. The universi-ties became entitled to this grant from2003 onwards. All the various types of cooperation play a signicant role inthe training of students and the forma-tion of well-trained professionals.

L’Université de Miskolc est le seulendroit en Hongrie où l’enseignementdes Sciences de la Terre au niveauingénieur respecte les niveaux dequalication : Licence, Maîtrise etDoctorat. Les relations avec l’industriesont capitales pour l’Université, lesétudiants et l’industrie. Durant les

dernières décennies, plusieurs typesde coopération se sont dévelop-pés. Parmi ceux-ci, la contributionobligatoire des compagnies au fondd’Education Professionnelle est peut-être la plus importante. Cette contri-bution xe le niveau de base du budgetpermettant de nancer une forma-tion pratique, des bourses d’étudesainsi que l’acquisition d’un minimumd’équipements nécessaires aux labo-ratoires. Les Universités ont le droitde bénécier de cette manne depuis

2003. Tous les types de coopération jouent un rôle signicatif dans la for-mation des étudiants et aussi des pro-fessionnels conrmés.

La Universidad de Miskolc es el únicositio en Hungría donde se impartenCiencias de la Tierra para ingenierosa nivel de licenciatura, máster y doc-torado. Las relaciones industriales sonmuy importantes para la universidad,los estudiantes y la industria. Durantelas últimas décadas se han desarrol-

lado varios tipos de cooperación, entrelas cuales la contribución obligatoria alFondo para la Formación Profesional esla más importante. Esta contribuciónrepresenta la base nanciera para unaformación práctica con becas y prácti-cas en empresas para estudiantes, así como para la adquisición de equiposy materiales para los laboratorios.Las universidades tuvieron derechoa esta nanciación a partir de 2003.Todos los diversos tipos de cooper-ación universidad-empresa juegan un

papel signicativo en la educación delos estudiantes y en la producción deprofesionales bien formados.

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Hydrogeology or Geoinformatics as major

subjects. The number of students vary

widely, from 1-3 graduates to 6-10 gradu-

ates annually in each major line.

The B.Sc. training includes compulsory

6 weeks practical work in industry and

institutes; generally this work is the intro-

duction to the problems of the thesis work

by the student (Figs 1&2).

Legal framework and incentives

Law supporting professional training Governments have uniformly recognized

the utmost importance of practical profes-

sional training at medium and higher levels

of education, and the industrial involve-

ment in the practical training has been

supported by different legal measures.

Of these the most important is the Law

86/2003 which has obliged every industrial

stakeholder to contribute to the Profes-sional Training Fund by 1.5% of its wage

and salary expenditures. Of this amount,

70% is collected centrally, and 30% can be

offered directly to schools and universities

for medium and higher level professional

education.

Tax allowancesThe accumulated sums in the 30% portion

of the Professional Training Fund can be

used in several ways:

- internal training schemes in companies

given by accredited institutions

- purchase of high value equipment and

instruments related directly to the prac-

tical courses

- offering internship programmes and

practical training to medium and higher

level education students.

Since these forms of utilization are tax

deductible, i.e. organized practical training

programmes reduce the amount of payable

corporate tax, the costs for the participating

companies are borne by the Fund.

Only those high schools and universities

which provide at least six weeks practicaltraining outside the university at industrial

partners or in the tertiary or agricultural

sector are entitled to obtain funds.

This form of support provides a con-

stant and signicant nancial source for

the University to keep its instrumentation

and practical training facilities up-to-date

(Fig. 3).

Forms of industry involvement

Corporate involvement in EuropeancoursesStrong international industrial support

From top: Figure 1. Students working on ore explora-tion mapping, Rudabanya

Figure 2. Students on industry site visit at the Boda exploration site (Radioactive wastedisposal storage development)

Figure 3. JEOL 8600 EDX-WDX Microprobein the Institute of Mineralogy and Geology.The instrument has been purchased throughthe Professional Training Fund

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backs up the Federation of European

Mining Programmes (FEMP), in which

Miskolc is a participating partner. The

travel costs and accommodation costs of

students are sponsored by the supporting

companies. Among the industrial partners,

such global mining companies as Rio

Tinto, BHP Billiton, Barrick Gold, Anglo

American, RWE, Outukumpu and Boliden

are encountered. The companies open job

opportunities for the students graduating

in these courses.

Industry representatives on the Faculty Board The Faculty Board has 5 members (out of

27) representing the industry, industrial

associations and professional authorities.

The Board meets 10 times a year. These

meetings are excellent opportunities to

express opinions about the academic train-ing as well as to request assistance from the

industry players when needed.

Road-showsThe most frequent contact between stu-

dents and industry is provided by the

periodical road-show events organized

by the companies which are interested in

recruiting students from our faculty. Such

meetings were organized in 2009 by both

petroleum companies and service compa-

nies (Exxon-Mobile, RWE DEA, MOL,

Schlumberger, etc) and mineral mining

companies (Rio Tinto, RWE).

MOL department The rst Department devoted to indus-

try-oriented training was organized by the

MOL in 2009. Its objective is better organ-

izing and focusing MOL activities amongst

the students as well as providing specially

focused industry-oriented training courses

in-house and in the eld. The department

is actively involved in the starting M.Sc.

programme in Petroleum Engineering.

Further modules in Petroleum Geology

and Geophysics are planned.

Summer internshipsOne of the key factors of high quality pro-

fessional training is the direct and real-life

involvement of students in company prac-

tices. The summer internship programmes

offer very good opportunities for the stu-

dents to get acquainted with possible future

employers, industry practices and disci-

plines. Several companies offer internship

programmes, which are used to full the

6-weeks practical training requirement at

B.Sc. level.

Scholarships for studentsSeveral national and international com-

panies offer scholarships for the students,

such as Nabors Industries Ltd (scholar-

ships for B.Sc. and M.Sc. students special-

izing in oil engineering); RWE (joint train-

ing programme with the TU Bergakademie

Freiberg).

Consultancy on thesis work Normally the industrial relationships do

not stop, rather are intensied, at higher,

M.Sc. and Ph.D. levels. It is now increas-

ingly frequent to have industry develop-

ment and innovation problems announced

as Ph.D. thesis topics, with adjoining

nancial support to carry out the labo-

ratory investigations related to the thesiswork. The Institute of Mineralogy and

Geology now cooperates with exploration

rms working on metallic and non-metal-

lic projects. These projects are now run

partially by students whose theses relate

to one of the unsolved scientic ques-

tions arising during the execution of the

project. Such involvement is being real-

ized in ongoing base-metal Pb-Zn-Cu

explorations at Rudabanya (Hungary), and

Cu-porphyry supergene mineralization at

Zafranal (Peru).

Support for competitionsIn some cases, non-traditional forms of

cooperation are proven to be fruitful. One

example of these relations is the different

competitions offered for student teams.

A very good vehicle to carry high pro-

fessional knowledge to students was the

AAPG initiative of the Imperial Barrel

Award, in which our student teams have

participated. Although they were not

amongst the winner teams, the training

and preparation work was far more ef-

cient than normal classroom lectures. This

world-wide competition is for teamwork

on geological evaluation of petroleum

exploration projects, from discovery to

economics, based on real databases. A

similar competition is organized annually

by the MOL as Fresssh competitions. Our

B.Sc. student team won this in 2008, out

of 270 teams from 20 countries.

Leonardo programmeEU-funded schemes, such as the Leonardo

programme, have been proved to be useful

in opening doors for our students towards

the European industry. In 2009 the Envi-

ronmental Centre Kjeøy (Norway) pro-

vided places for our students, thus pro-

viding them access to highly specialized

knowledge in treating acid mine drainage

problems related to ore and coal extrac-

tion.

Participation in student chapters of the

major global professional associations

The professional student associations have

become increasingly active with the struc-

tural changes in education. Student chap-

ters of the American Association of Petro-

leum Geologists, the Society of Petroleum

Engineers and the Society of Economic

Geologists have been founded in recent

years. The national societies play similarly

important roles in the students’ develop-ment. In this eld the annual joint meetings

of the Hungarian Geological Society and

the Hungarian Society of Geophysicists

should be mentioned. Students take part

in other international student networks for

engineers, such as AIESTE.

Signicant gains for the students/ strong

benets for the companies/vital for uni-

versities

Industrial involvement in university edu-

cation programmes creates signicant

advantages for students, companies and

the university. In the rst place, the gradu-ates obtain practical experience, while still

in the academy, and learn about the eco-

nomic side of their profession, corporate

behaviour and ethics. They encounter and

learn to solve real problems.

The internship schemes provide oppor-

tunities for the companies to nd the right

candidates for the different jobs and respon-

sibilities, while tax allowances help reduce

the nancial burden of these activities. The

tutoring of thesis work and participation

in course work has also advantageous

feedback for industrial geologists, who

can refresh their theoretical background

during the intense communication with

the university staff. Finally, by having

industry representatives on the Board, the

University may and can ne-tune the dif -

ferent education programmes and courses,

adjusting them to the ever-changing needs

of the market.

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The conventional ten-semester aca-

demic programmes in geology

started for the last time in Hungary

in 2005. There were two universities which

offered these programmes. At the Eötvös

Loránd University, Budapest the graduate

students were certied geologists. At Uni-

versity of Miskolc they were certied engi-neering geologists. The last students in

these programmes completed their studies

mostly in 2010 but there are some students

in the conventional programmes whose

studies last more than ten semesters.

Programmes in the Bologna System

The Bologna System was implemented in

Hungary in 2006. In the new system there

are four universities where geology-related

programmes are offered (Fig. 1). The pro-The pro-

grammes are validated and accredited by

the Ministry of Education and Culture.

The workload of a full-time student for

one academic year of study is dened as 60

ECTS credits, normally 30 ECTS credits

for each semester. 1 ECTS credit equals ~

30 hours of workload. The Bachelor pro-

gramme in Earth Science and Engineering

involves 210 ECTS credits and the Earth

Science programmes involve 180 ECTS

credits. The Masters Programmes include

120 ECTS credits. The curricula in the

geology-related programmes are rather

input-oriented and there are no outcome-

oriented requirements.

In the B.Sc. in Earth Science programmes

for students specializing in geology and

in the M.Sc. programmes in geology the

most important subject areas are as fol-

lows: mathematics, chemistry, informa-mathematics, chemistry, informa-

tics, mineralogy, petrography, geochemi-

stry, palaeontology, physical, structuraland historical geology, environmental geo-

logy, applied geology, geology of mineral

deposits and mineral exploration.

For Earth Science and Engineering pro-

grammes the B.Sc. students specializing in

geology the subject areas are: engineering

physics, applied chemistry, economics,

informatics, mineralogy, petrography,

geochemistry, physical, structural and

historical geology, environmental geo-

logy, geophysics, engineering geology,

hydrogeology, mineral exploration, mine-

ral resources. In the M.Sc. programmes in

Geology-related higher educationprogrammes in Hungary

by Éva Hartai1

1University of Miskolc, Hungary

[email protected]

In Hungary there are four universitieswhere geology-related programmesare offered. The traditional ten-semes-ter academic programmes started forthe last time in 2005. Since 2006 theBologna System has been adopted.The programmes at B.Sc. level take 6or 7 semesters. A full year of studiesequals 60 ETCS; 1 ECTS equals 30hours of workload. At B.Sc. level thereis no separate ‘geology’ profession;the graduates get their diploma asBachelor of Earth Sciences or EarthScience and Engineering. About 60% of B.Sc. graduates enter the M.Sc.cycle, which started in 2009 and 2010.The “Earth Science” B.Sc. courses offergeology, geophysics, meteorology,geoinformatics, mining engineering,oil engineering, etc. The M.Sc. coursesare more specialized. The expectedannual number of graduates special-izing in geology (including engineeringgeology and hydrogeology) is about30. The curricula are rather input-ori-ented, with no ofcial expectations onlearning outcomes from the employ-ers’ side.

En Hongrie, il existe quatre Universitésoù sont enseignés des programmes decursus géologique. Les programmesacadémiques traditionnels, de durée 10semestres, ont eu cours pour la dernièrefois, en 2005. Depuis 2006, le Processusde Bologne a été adopté. Les programmesau niveau licence représentent un cursusde 6 à 7 semestres. Une année com-plète d’études correspond à 60 ETCS ; 1ETCS représente 30 heures de travail. Auniveau Licence, il n’existe pas de quali-cation professionnelle bien individualiséeen Géologie, les diplômés obtenant untitre de Licencié en Géosciences ou enGéosciences et Sciences de l’Ingénieur.Le cursus de licence comprend des coursde géologie, de géophysique de météo-rologie, de géo informatique d’ingénierieminière et du pétrole, etc. Environ 60%des diplômés en licence suivent le cyclede Maîtrise qui a commencé en 2009 et2010. Les cours en Maîtrise sont plusspécialisés. Le nombre annuel total dediplômés en Maîtrise incluant les domai-nes de la géologie de l’ingénieur et del’hydrogéologie est de 30 environ. Lesprogrammes d’étude dépendent plutôtdes débouchés offerts sans contrôle of-ciel des connaissances acquises du côtédes employeurs.

En Hungría hay curto universidadesque ofrecen programas relaciona-dos con la geología. El programaacadémico tradicional de diez semes-tres empezó por última vez en 2005.El sistema de Bolonia se ha adoptadodesde 2006. El programa de gradoocupa 6 o 7 semestres. Un año com-pleto de estudios es equivalente a 60ECTS, 1 ECTS equivale a 30 horas decarga de trabajo. A nivel de grado nose producen profesionales de geologíaindividualizados, los graduados reci-ben el título de Licenciado en Cienciasde la Tierra e Ingeniería. Aproximad-amente un 60% de los graduadosentran en el ciclo de máster, queempezó en 2009 y 2010. Los cursosde los grados en “Ciencias de la Tierra” ofrecen geología, geofísica, meteor-ología, geoinformática, ingeniería deminas, ingeniería del petróleo, etc. Loscursos de máster son más especiali-zados. El número anual previsto degraduados especializados en geología(incluyendo ingeniería geológica,geología e hidrogeología) es de unos30. El currículo es bastante orientadoa lo impartido, más que hacia losresultados del aprendizaje desde laperspectiva del empleador.

mailto:foldshe%40uni-miskolc.hu?subject=

mailto:foldshe%40uni-miskolc.hu?subject=

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Geo-Engineering and Hydrogeology the

subject areas are more detailed.

B.Sc. programmes are offered in the

following universities:

- Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest:

B.Sc. in Earth Sciences (6 semesters).

Specialization starts in the 3rd semester.

Students can specialize in astronomy,

cartography and GIS, meteorology,geography, geophysics or geology.

- University of Szeged: B.Sc. in EarthSciences (6 semesters). Specialization

starts in the 3rd semester. Students can

specialize in applied earth sciences or

geology.

- University of Debrecen: B.Sc. in EarthSciences (6 semesters). Specialization

starts in the 3rd semester. Students can

specialize in meteorology, geography

or geology.

- University of Miskolc: B.Sc. in Earth

Science and Engineering (7 semesters). Specialization starts in the 5th semester.

Students can specialize in mining and

geotechnical engineering, processing

engineering, oil and gas engineering or

Earth sciences.

M.Sc. programmes all last for 4 semesters.

These programmes are offered in the fol-are offered in the fol-

lowing universities:

- Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest:

M.Sc. in Geology- University of Szeged: M.Sc. in Earth

Sciences- University of Debrecen: M.Sc. in Earth

Sciences- University of Miskolc: M.Sc. in Geologi-

cal and Geophysical Engineering - University of Miskolc: M.Sc. in Hydro-

gelogy and Engineering.

As the Bachelor programmes embrace a

large spectrum of specialities the number

of freshmen students is relatively high.

In the four universities which offer geol-

ogy-related programmes their numbers are

about 300. The number of graduate Bach-

elor students (including all specializations)

is about 200. The number of graduates spe-

cializing in geology-related programms is

about 50. From this, about 25 enter the

geology-related M.Sc. programmes.

In Hungary there is no national deni-

tion or standard for learning outcomes in

the eld of geology; it is the right of each

university which offers the programme to

dene the learning outcomes. This deni-

tion is necessary for the accreditation of

the offered programme.

Geology as a profession in Hungary

Geology is a regulated profession and the

ofcially recognized geological body is the

Hungarian Geological Society. The Soci-ety has about 1000 members and from this

about 500 are practising geologists, the

others are students or retired persons.

Graduates do not need to pass an exam

to join the Society. The Hungarian Geo-

logical Society does not have continuous

development programmes. These are

offered by universities. It is the specic

company which can require improvement

of professional knowledge by postgradual

courses. There are no professional prere-

quisites for entering a job as a geologist, the

academic degree is sufcient to practise.

In the Bologna System about 25 geo-logy-related Bachelor and 25 Masters gra-

duates enter the labour market annually.

About 80% of these are expected to get a

job in the profession, the rest will work in

other elds.

Figure 1. Location of the universities offering geology-related programmes

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T

he only institution in Serbia in

charge of higher education in geol-

ogy is the Faculty of Mining andGeology. Although formally belonging to

the University of Belgrade (the Faculty’s

ofcial name is ’University of Belgrade,

Faculty of Mining and Geology’ - hereafter

UB-FMG), it is a single legal entity as are

most state faculties in Serbia. The UB-

FMG consists of two Divisions: one for

Mining and one for Geology, each enrolling

around 120 students per year. At present,

the whole Faculty has around 1000 active

students and about 125 teaching staff. The

Geology Division encompasses all geo-

logical disciplines, which are distributed

throughout eight Departments: RegionalGeology, Palaeontology, Mineralogy and

Crystallography, Petrology and Geochem-

istry, Economic Geology, Hydrogeology,

Geotechnics and Geophysics.

In spring 2007 the Faculty completed

the rst stage of the Bologna Process and

was successfully accredited by the Serbian

Ministry of Education. In some respect, the

’Bologna story’ helped very much because

it was more than a blind re-organization

of curricula following simple rules. It was

a milestone at which we had to observe

ourselves through a prism of Europeanstandards and to think seriously about how

to continue further. However, as Musselin

(2005) pointed out,change in higher educa-

tion is more about layering the new on top

of the old than about substituting the old

with the new. Therefore, it is not surprising

that many goals of the Bologna Agreement

still need to be achieved. Higher education

in geology suffers some general problems

that are common for other sciences and for

other state higher education institutions

in Serbia. Some difculties, on the other

hand, are typical for geological education

in Serbia, because they are related to thehistory of geological schools in Serbia and

to the internal structure of the Faculty of

Mining and Geology.

The most important general problem is

related to the fact that the decision to join

the Bologna agreement was not followed

by a change of the system of nancing

higher education in Serbia. This means

that the system remained to be entirely

controlled by the input criteria, which has

important implications given that the state

faculties are legal entities. Albeit the fac-

ulties have full nancial independence,

they are left on their own. For instance,

if the number of students substantially

decreases, this inevitably causes a propor-

tional decrease of nancial contributionfrom the State. This is exactly the present

situation with the UB-FMG: a continuous

loss of annually enrolled students causing

gradually poorer nancing from the Minis-

try. Indeed, this is valid for most technical

and natural science faculties of the Univer-

sity of Belgrade. They are all going to share

the same destiny until something happens

either with the system of nancing higher

education or with the structure of Belgrade

University. Naturally, the UB-FMG may

try to attract more students and that is

what we desperately do. However, this is

not by denition a perfect idea because theattempt to have more students usually leads

to erosion of studying criteria. On the other

hand, the number of c. 120 students that are

presently being enrolled at the UB-FMG

is roughly balanced by the recent needs

in Serbia. Hence, do we need a common-

sense number of better educated geologists

and geological engineers or many more of

them who will be more poorly educated?

The rst should belong to the priorities of

higher education in Serbia but the second

may easily be important for the UB-FMG

employees who claim their salaries.

Apart from this labyrinth that can be

Geological higher education inSerbia

Between demand and capabilityby Vladica Cvetković1

1Dean, University of Belgrade

Faculty of Mining and Geology

Serbia is a relatively small countrylocated at the crossroads betweencentral and south-eastern Europe.The country experienced severe politi-cal and scientic isolation during the1990s entering into a turbulent tran-sition after October 2000. In 2005Serbia adopted a new Law on Higher

Education to enable the reforms in linewith the Bologna Process but thereis a line of evidence suggesting thatthe implementation is not progressingsmoothly. Higher education in theearth sciences is also facing many dif-culties and some of them are givenhere.

La Serbie est un pays de taille relative-ment petite, au carrefour de l’Europecentrale et du Sud-Est. Le pays atraversé une période d’isolementsévère du point de vue politique etscientique dans les années 1990,entrant dans une phase de transitiontumultueuse après octobre 2000. En

2005, la Serbie a adopté une nou-velle loi concernant l’EnseignementSupérieur pour pouvoir mettre lesréformes en phase avec le Processusde Bologne mais il est clair que cettemise en œuvre n’avance pas de façonrégulière. L’enseignement supérieuren Sciences de la Terre rencontrebeaucoup de difcultés dont certainessont explicitées ici.

Serbia es un país relativamentepequeño situado entre la Europa cen-tral y la Europa sur-este. El país haexperimentado un aislamiento políticoy cientíco en los 90 y pasó por unatransición turbulenta tras octubre2000. En el año 2005 Serbia aprobó lanueva Ley de Educación Superior para

permitir las reformas del proceso deBolonia, pero hay una serie de eviden-cias que sugieren que la implement-ación no progresa adecuadamente. Laeducación superior en las ciencias dela Tierra también se enfrenta a muchasdicultades, algunas de las cuales seincluyen a continuación.

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solved only by a ‘New Deal’ in higher

education in Serbia, there are some prob-

lems which are typical for geological edu-

cation. Geology has a long tradition in

higher education in Serbia dating back to

1880. Ever since that time the structure

of geological education underwent many

changes. The last one occurred in the mid-

60s when the decision makers decided to

attach natural science-oriented geological

departments to the Faculty of Mining and

Geology. From that moment onwards,

these departments never felt at home at

the UB-FMG which became a single insti-

tution in Serbia for teaching and research

in all branches of geology. What is strange

in having natural science and applied geo-

logical disciplines (along with mining)

together? Nothing, except that they are

together in the single geological school in

the country! So that, if the predominatingengineers of the UB-FMG decide to close

some apparently unattractive departments

which continuously lack students and have

low potential of attracting extra funds - and

that, indeed, from a pure (and blind) man-

agement point of view might be a rational

idea - this would practically signify the end

of the given geological discipline in Serbia.

One can decide to shut down the chair in

petrology or palaeontology at the Univer-

sity of Salzburg (in order to prioritize some-

thing else) because there are other Aus-

trian Universities with good petrologists or

palaeontologists. However, if it is done in

Belgrade then these disciplines will die out

in Serbia completely. The fact that geologi-

cal departments are not only providing the

study programmes but they are also a sort

of oasis of particular scientic disciplines is

almost unique. This situation induces many

difculties in the UB-FMG organization

including those in successfully applying the

Bologna Agreement.These are circumstances under which

Earth scientists are being taught in Serbia.

In spite of the mentioned difculties, we

are continuously improving our educa-

tion process and trying to bring Earth sci-

ence to everyone. Our best students have

long been recognized as of good quality

and to have no problems obtaining Ph.D.

or post-Doc positions worldwide - from

UBC in Vancouver to Macquarie Univer -

sity in Sydney. Now we want our average

students to be better because they will

be among the very signicant players in

building a sustainable society in Serbia.

Reference

Musselin, C. 2005. Change or Con-

tinuity in Higher Education Govern-

ance? Lessons Drawn from Twenty

Years of National Reforms in Euro-

pean Countries. In. Bleiklie, I., Henkel,M. (eds). Governing Knowledge, 65-

79. Springer.

http://www.gyro-services.com/

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Euro

Ages

The Italian higher education system

has complied with the Bologna

Agreement since November 1999,

when the Ministry of University and Sci-entic Research & Tecnology adopted

Decree n.. 509/99. One year later, a new

Decree of the Ministry of the University,

dening the different classes of titles,

was adopted by the Italian Government.

According to these two Decrees higher

education is based on a three-level scale;

“Laurea Triennale” Bachelor (3 years),

“Laurea Specialistica o Magistrale” Mas-

ters (2 years) and Ph.D.-level (Dottorato di

Ricerca) (3 years). Every degree has a xed

number of credits and a full year of studies

equals 60 ECTS credits (European Credit

Transfer System).The workload of a full-time student for one academic year of study

is dened as 60 ECTS credits, normally 30

ECTS credits for each semester. 1 ECTS

credit equals ~ 25 hours of workload. The

Bachelor programme involves 180 ECTS

credits and the Masters Programme 120

ECTS credits.

The structure of education in geology

The usual modus operandi is the existence

of several different study programmes at

both the Bachelor and Masters levels.

Some examples of these are: Geological

Sciences and Technology, GeophysicalSciences, Engineering Geology or Applied

Geology, Georesources & Geomaterials,

Geohazards (Tables 1&2).

Since 1999 the National Council of

Italian Professional Geologists has been

involved with the Italian Government

during the implementation of the new

higher education programmes in geology

according to the Bologna Agreement; in

this period many documents and propos-

als were sent to the Ministry of Education.

These proposals were studied according

to the structure of the Italian market for

professional geology.

Universities offering geological programmes

After the approval of the National Decree,

the structure of different courses, as well as

the learning outcomes and goals of educa-

tion, were re-written by the Universities.

In Italy there are 28 Universities currently

offering higher education programmes in

Geology and Geosciences.

The typical outcome of an Italian Bach-

elor learning programme in Geology is:

- knowledge and understanding: on sci-

entic basis and in Earth Sciences, of

the history of the planet, of geological

processes and phenomena in the forma-

tion of rocks; of recognizing geometry

and composition of rock bodies- Applying knowledge and understanding:

of analysis and description of geological

materials in eld and laboratory activi-

ties, in the application of professional

instruments, mathematical instruments

and GIS

- Making judgements: in the evaluation

of the complexity of natural systems,

in the design of ground investigations

programmes, in data collection with

analysis of quality and reliability; in

the evaluation of the importance and

responsibility of geological sciences

in land protection and management, in

the evaluation of geological hazards,

protection and sustainable use of raw

materials and georesources, in the con-

servation and protection of stone built

monuments and geoheritage

- Communication skills: for information,

ideas, problems, solutions in geological

sciences, writing and discussing these

aspects in Italian and other European

languages (especially English) with the

application of principal instruments of

informatics and internet

- Learning skills: using advanced publications,

The higher education system forprofessional geologists in Italy

by Marino Trimboli1 and Enrico Nucci1

1Members of the Italian Council of

Professional Geologists (CNG)

The application of the Bologna Agree-ment in Italy was approved in 1999-2000. The structure of the new coursesin Geology is divided in two cycles: a3 year Bachelor level and a 2 yearMasters degree. After ve years, 28Universities in Italy offer higher edu-cation programmes in geology with c.900 graduates per year. Regulationof the professions in Italy follow a

Government Agency Model and thegovernment administers state examsfor entry into the profession. The Stateexamination in geology is the nal testwith a complete check of skills andcompetences.

L’application du Processus de Bologneen Italie a été approuvée en 1999-2000.Le cadre des nouveaux cursus en Géol-ogie comprend deux cycles: un niveauLicence obtenu en 3 années d’étudeset un diplôme de Maîtrise obtenu en2 années. Après 5 ans d’études, 28Universités italiennes offrent des pro-grammes d’enseignement supérieuren géologie avec 909 diplômés par

an. La régulation de la profession enItalie est conforme aux critères étab-lis par l’Agence gouvernementale etle gouvernement reste en chargedes examens d’état pour une admis-sion comme professionnel. L’examennational en Géologie représente le testnal contrôlant les connaissances pra-tiques ainsi que les compétences.

La aplicación del Acuerdo de Boloniaen Italia se aprobó en 1999-2000. Laestructura de los nuevos cursos degeología se divide en dos ciclos: unalicenciatura de 3 años y un máster de2 años. Tras cinco años las 28 univer-sidades italianas ofrecen programasde educación superior en geologíaque producen 909 graduados al año.La regulación de las profesiones en

Italia sigue un modelo de AgenciaGubernamental y el Gobierno admin-istra los exámenes de estado para elacceso a la profesión. El examen deEstado en geología es la prueba nalcon una comprobación exhaustiva delas habilidades y competencias de loscandidatos.

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Table 1. Specic Unit Descriptors of the Bachelor in Geosciences (Class n. 16 of the National Decree)

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Table 2. The specic Unit Descriptors of the M. Sc. in Geosciences (Class n. 86 of the National Decree)

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database and information available on

the net to improve personal knowl-

edge.

Table 4 shows the structure of the Bachelor

course in Geological Sciences at Milano

Bicocca University.

The outcome of an Italian Masters pro-gramme in Geology is:

- knowledge and understanding: at a high

scientic level in Earth Sciences, with

skills in the original application of

research methods

- Applying knowledge and understanding:

solving geological problems in several

and multidisciplinary elds applying

special techniques in various new situ-

ations

- Making judgements: solving complex

situations with incomplete dataset

(hazard management, active proc-esses study, geological evaluations in

civil engineering). Special skills in the

analysis of consequences from personal

judgements and evaluations made

- Communication skills: with communica-

tion of results and personal evaluations

with national or foreign specialists and

citizens in Italian and other European

language (especially English).

- Learning skills: using advanced publica-

tions, database and information avail-

able on the net improving personal

knowledge in the resolution of geo-logical and technical problems.

Number of freshman students and graduates

The evolution of the number of students in

geology in the Italian Universities is shown

in Figure 1.

Prior to the introduction of the Bologna

programme in Italy the number of gradu-

ates in geology each year was 1240; in

2007, after 5 years of the application, Ital-

ian universities graduated 632 Bachelors

and 277 Masters. One quarter of Bachelor

graduates did not continue to the Masters

HE programmes. The total number of gar-

duates at both levels is only 73% of the

total before Bologna; also the number of

freshman compared to graduates shows a

marked decrease. The explanation of these

results is not to be found in the changes

introduced by the Bologna Process; HE

programmes in geology have not the same

appeal as others (e.g., Envinronmental

Engineering). Only 51% of Masters gradu-

ates in geology has a job after three years

(27% for Bachelors).

Professional Prerequisites

Italy has a long tradition of regulating

Table 4b. Second Year

Bachelor in Geological Sciences and Geotechnology programme from Milan Bicocca university

Table 4a. First Year

the profession and is one of two coun-

tries in Europe that requires registration

of geologists by law. Regulation of the

professions in Italy follow a Govern-

ment Agency Model and the government

administers state exams for entry into the

profession. Italian Law prescribes two

different professional titles for B. Sc.

(Junior Geologist) and M.Sc. (Geologist).

The State Examination is the nal test

with a complete check of skills and com-

petences; exams are managed by the State.

A candidate can apply to register and take

the exams at any time but in practice, a

Figure 1. Geological Sciences students in Italy

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minimum of 2-3 years of work experience

is needed to acquire an adequate level of

knowledge to pass the 35-40% range.

Structure of the State Examination

Written ExaminationsThe written test is related to the elds of

knowledge listed in the published legisla-

tion decree.

The candidate should collect a minimum

of 30 points to advance to the oral exami-

nation.

Oral examinationThe oral interview will be related to the

topics listed in the published legislation

decree, plus professional ethics, CNG rules

and regulations. The candidate should col-

lect a minimum of 30 points to advance to

the practical test.

Practical Test The practical exam requires the candidate

to complete a report based on a problem

related to the topics listed in the published

legislation decree.

In case of a negative result the candidate

can repeat the test, but not before 6 months

have elapsed.

Figure 2. Geology State Examination statistics

Figure 3. Number of new professionals after Bologna

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Professional registration in CanadaGeoscience knowledge and experience requirements

by Oliver Bonham1and Gregory Finn2

In April 2009, Geoscientists Canadapublished the document “GeoscienceKnowledge and Experience Require-ments for Professional Registration inCanada”. This paper is a summary of a presentation describing the develop-ment and content of this documentmade at the Euro-Ages Final Confer-ence in Budapest, Hungary on October22, 2010.

En avril 2009, les professionnels cana-diens en Géosciences ont publié le doc-ument intitulé ‘‘Obligations en matièrede connaissances et d’expérience enGéosciences pour une reconnaissance professionnelle au Canad ’’. Cet articleest un résumé de ce document avecdescription de son développement etcontenu, tel que présenté à la Con-férence Euro-Ages, tenue le 22 octo-

bre à Budapest.

En abril de 2009, la organizaciónGeoscientists Canada publicó el docu-mento “Conocimientos y experienciaen ciencias geológicas requeridos para el registro de profesionales enCanadá”. Este artículo es un resumende una presentación que describe eldesarrollo y los contenidos de dichodocumento y que se expuso en laconferencia nal del proyecto Euro-

Ages en Budapest, Hungría el 22 deoctubre de 2010.

Geoscience is a regulated profes-

sion in 11 of Canada’s 13 prov-

inces and territories. Professional

registration and governance of practice in

Canada is the responsibility of the inde-

pendent regulatory body set up under legis-

lation in each province and territory. There

are approximately 8,900 P.Geos registered

across Canada.

In recent years, annual graduations

from geoscience programmes at Canadian

universities averaged 800 B.Sc., 200 M.Sc.and 100 Ph.D. degrees.

Geoscientists Canada and the Canadian

Geoscience Standards Board

The Canadian Council of Professional

Geoscientists Canada - now operating

under the business name Geoscientists

Canada - is the national organization of

the regulatory bodies. The mission of Geo-

scientists Canada is to develop consistent

high standards for licensure and practice of

geoscience, facilitate national and interna-

tional mobility and promote the recogni-

tion of Canadian professional geoscience.The Canadian Geoscience Standards

Board (CGSB) is a national standing com-

mittee reporting to Geoscientists Canada.

It is made up of appointees - one from each

of the regulatory bodies. Typically those

appointed to CGSB are P.Geos, who are

faculty members of Earth Science departments

at Canadian universities. CGSB collabo-

rates closely with admissions ofcials of

the regulatory bodies.

Geoscience Knowledge and Experience

Requirements for Professional Regis-

tration in Canada

The Geoscience Knowledge and Experi-

ence Requirements for Professional Reg-

istration in Canada (GKE) is a consensus

document that has been agreed to across

the profession and among the regulatory bodies in Canada. It must be emphasized

however that it is only a summary and

requirements are set out under legislation

in each jurisdiction.

With the decision by the profession not

to pursue national accreditation for degree

programmes in Canada, the need was rec -

ognized to develop and publish clearly

articulated information on expectations

concerning both the knowledge (formal

geoscience education) and experience (on-

the-job geoscience practice skills) consid-

ered necessary to be suitably qualied for

independent professional practice.Geoscientists Canada’s GKE origi-

nated as a preliminary set of requirements

initially released in 2000. After use for

admission purposes for a 5-year period,

a revision process commenced in 2005.

The revision took 4 years to complete, and

beneted enormously from experience and

feedback from usage of the earlier docu-

ment. Multi-stage consultations occurred

both internally (with all the regulatory

bodies) and externally (with stakehold-

ers in the broader geoscience community)

during the revision process.

A full text version of the GKE can

be viewed in either English or French by

visiting the Geoscientists Canada website

at: www.ccpg.ca. It is recognized that, with

further changes and improvements, new

versions will be released over time. A brief

synopsis of the requirements follows:

Geoscience knowledge requirements

Geoscience education in Canada generally

falls into three distinct streams: Geology,

Environmental Geoscience and Geophys-

ics. The geoscience knowledge require-ments are based on a typical 4-year hon-

ours degree in geoscience from a Canadian

university. The basic unit of counting is the

Education Unit (EU) which is dened as

formal instruction equivalent to one term

(one semester), amounting to 3 hours of

lecture time or equivalent, with or without

a lab component, for a 13 week term.

Identical requirements, for all three

streams exist in Compulsory Foundation

Science (Chemistry, Physics and Math-

ematics: - 3EUs); and Additional Founda-

tion Science (Biology, Computer Science

and Statistics plus Chemistry, Physics or Mathematics: - 6EUs) with no more than 2

additional EUs in any one subject area.

Similarly, for all three streams there

are identical requirements in Compulsory

Foundation Geoscience (Field Techniques,

Mineralogy and Petrology, Sedimentology

and Stratigraphy, and Structural Geology: -

4EUs). Additional Foundation Geoscience

totals 5 EUs, from listed sub-groups of sub-

jects that differ, depending on the stream,

with a minimum I EU countable from any

one sub-group.

The remaining geoscience knowledge

is made up of Other Geoscience/Science

1Geoscientists Canada, 2010 Regent

St., Burnaby BC, V5C 6N2, Canada2Earth Sciences, Brock University, 500

Glenridge Avenue, St. Catharines ON,

L2S 3A1, Canada

http://www.ccpg.ca/

http://www.ccpg.ca/

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for 9 EUs. These are obtaining

through choices from the normal

range of upper year elective

courses; this provides for some

specialization at the undergrad-

uate level, while at the same

time ensuring a broad base of

knowledge across the Earth Sci-

ences, and other sciences. The

document includes a list of Other

Geoscience/Science courses; but

this list is for illustration purpose

only and is not exhaustive.

For all knowledge require-

ments listed in the document,

there is a brief statement of the

learning outcome expected from

each unit of study.

This represents an overall

requirement of 27 EUs in sci-

ence/geoscience subjects. Thetypical university requirement

for a B.Sc. honours degree at a

Canadian university is 40 EUs,

with the remaining EUs needed

to satisfy degree requirements

for university graduation coming

from other study areas.

Geoscience experience

requirements

Professional registration in

Canada requires 48 months of

cumulative geoscience work

experience covering the fol-lowing areas: application of

geoscience theory and practical

work experience; understand-

ing of geoscience processes and

systems; management of geo-

science; communication skills;

and awareness of societal impli-

cations of geoscience. Work

experience is generally obtained

following graduation; however

there are provisions to allow

geoscience employment during

the undergraduate programme

and post graduate thesis work

to count towards these require-

ments.

Work experience must be

independently veried by a

minimum of three referees (two

of whom must be P.Geos), who

are familiar with the applicant’s

work and can comment on their

technical ability and suitability

for licensure. Figure 2. Compulsory and Additional Geoscience requirements as set out in GKE

Figure 1. Compulsory and Additional Foundation Science requirements as set out in GKE

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Other requirements

To become registered all candidates must

sit and pass a Professional Practice and

Ethics Exam covering: ethics, profession-

alism, business law, professional liability

and responsibilities concerning protection

of the public. It is not a technical exam.

Conclusions

While the primary purpose of the Geo-

science Knowledge and Experience

Requirements for Professional Registration

in Canada is to serve as a common refer-

ence among the regulatory bodies, its other

important purpose is to provide informa-

tion to:

- those studying to enter the profession

of geoscience, and those preparing to

become registered

- educators and trainers of geoscientists,

including professors, university coun-

selors, and those developing geoscience

curricula

- persons migrating to Canada and interna-

tionally mobile professionals intending

to practise professionally in Canada- law and policy makers, governments

and those involved in the registration

and regulation of the geoscience pro-

fession

- employers, or users of professional services

offered by geoscientists and the general

public.

Acknowledgements

Support for travel to attend and participate

at the Euro-Ages project nal conference

was covered through Human Resources

and Skills Development Canada’s Foreign

Credentials Recognition Program funding

for Geoscientists Canada’s International-

Trained Geoscientists Framework Project

(Project #8556957). The authors would

also like to thank Bruce Broster for assist-

ance in reviewing the text of this paper.

Reference

Canadian Council of Professional Geo-

scientists. 2009. Geoscience Knowl-edge and Experience Requirements for

Professional Registration in Canada .

Quality assurance of higher educationin geology

Perspectives from employers

by Luca Demicheli1

EuroGeoSurveys (EGS) is the organi-

zation of the Geological Surveys of Europe. Currently 32 national geo-logical surveys are members of EGS.The Geological Surveys of Europe arepublic government organizations andtheir staff is mainly hired throughpublic competitions. The prolesrequired are continuously changingto meet the new priorities of Euro-pean geosciences. This implies thatprospective employees are able toprovide a uniform level of educationacross Europe, and have a high degreeof exibility in rapidly adapting to therequired changing skills.

Eurogeosurveys (EGS) est

l’Organisation regroupant les Serv-ices Géologiques Européens. Actuel-lement, 32 Services Géologiquesnationaux sont membres de l’EGS.Les Services Géologiques européenssont des organisations gouvernemen-tales, publiques, et leurs membressont en majorité sélectionnés à l’issued’un concours public. Les prols requisvarient de façon continue pour tenircompte des nouvelles priorités desGéosciences en Europe. Cela impli-que que les candidats soient aptesà démontrer un niveau d’éducationéquivalent pour les pays européens etsoient à même, grâce à un haut niveaude exibilité, de s’adapter rapidementaux compétences requises, en perma-nente évolution.

EuroGeosurveys es la organización

que agrupa a los Servicios Geológicode Europa. Actualmente son miem-bros de EGS 32 servicios geológicos.Los servicios geológicos de Europason organizaciones gubernamentalesy su personal se contrata por medio deoposiciones públicas. Los perles delos puestos solicitados cambian con-tinuamente en función de las nuevasprioridades en las ciencias de la Tierraeuropeas. Esto implica que los futurosempleados de estas organizacionesdeberían tener un nivel de educaciónuniforme en toda Europa y un mayorgrado de exibilidad para adaptarserápidamente a las cambiantes dest-rezas que se requieren.

EuroGeoSurveys (EGS) is the organ-

ization of the Geological Surveys

of Europe. Currently 32 national

geological surveys are members of EGS,

which promotes the contribution of

1Secretary General, EuroGeoSurveys -

The Geological Surveys of Europe

geosciences to European Union affairs

and action programmes to publish, or see

its Members publishing, expert, neutral,

balanced and practical pan-European tech-

nical advice and information for the Euro-

pean Union Institutions. It also provides a

permanent network between the Geological

http://www.eurogeosurveys.org/

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Surveys of Europe and a common, but

not unique, gateway to each of the Mem-

bers and their national networks to jointly

address European issues of common inter-

est in the eld of geosciences. According

to its Statutes, EGS shall pursue activities

that lie exclusively in the public interest or

in the interest of public administration that

will benet from the combined and coordi-

nated expertise of its members and in the

direct interest of the European Union and/

or of the European Free Trade Association.

EGS areas of expertise include:

- the use and the management of on- and

off-shore natural resources related to

the subsurface of the Earth (minerals

and water, soils, underground space,

land and energy, including renewable

geothermal energy)

- the identication of natural hazards of

geological origin, their monitoring and

the mitigation of their impacts (decit

or excess of trace elements in soils and

waters, earthquakes, natural emissions

of hazardous gases, landslides and

rock falls, land heave and subsidence,

shrinking and swelling clays)

- the development of interoperable and

harmonized geo-scientic data at the

European scale

- environmental management, waste man-

agement and disposal, land-use plan-

ning

- sustainable urban development and safeconstruction

- e-government and the access to geo-

scientic metadata and data.

With an overall work force of over 20,000,

the Geological Surveys of Europe can be

considered a major employer in the eld

of geoscience at continental level. As such,

EGS has a specic interest in education

systems and their level, especially in the

eld of higher education.

EGS is a particular type of employer,

being composed only of public organi-

zations. Nevertheless, the size, mandate

and priority of the Geological Surveys of

Europe are not homogeneous. Each Geo-

logical Survey belongs to a specic min-

istry in its own country. It is possible to

state, with a good level of approximation,

that about 30% of the EGS members are

part of ministries in charge of environ-

mental protection; 30% of ministries in

charge of research; 30% of ministries in

charge of economy/industry/energy; 10%

in various others. Moreover, the size and

mandate vary very much too. Some sur-

veys have many hundreds of staff members

with duties ranging from civil protection

support to oil and gas exploration, whileothers are considerably small in size and

operational capability. It has also to be

considered that the hiring procedures are

very seldom straightforward, since public

administrations in most of the cases require

the establishment of open competitions to

ll vacant positions.

Nevertheless the need for very highly-

qualied staff is continuously increasing

among Geological Surveys, at the same

rate of their joint activities at international

level. This situation tends to level towards

the top the capabilities of the survey which

more and more operate at the forefront of European technological development.

One the one hand this has led the Geo-

logical Surveys to further strengthen their

relationships with the universities for the

preparation of graduates and post-gradu-

ates, in a way that is more harmonized

and exible throughout Europe. Young

members of staff are expected to be able

to respond to the rapidly changing geo-

scientic applications, and to be able to

apply their competences in any country in

Europe, according to the priorities of each

national Geological Survey.

The Young Earth Scientists (YES) Net-

work is also seen as a major contributor to

achieve these goals, as it indeed facilitates

exchange of experience and knowledge

among students and early career geosci-

entists, increasing their ability to operate

internationally.

In order to increase the level of spe-

cialization of young geologists, the Geo-

logical Surveys of Europe are also active

in organizing postgraduate courses and

highly specialized training. A recent nota-

ble example is represented by the National

School for Applied Geosciences (ENAG)

of the French Geological Survey (BRGM).

The school aims at completing the trainingof specialists in geosciences by developing

the talents needed by governments, the

mining industry and international institu-

tions, such as geographic mobility (mul-

tinational/national), cultural adaptability,

knowledge of eld geology, capacity for

synthesis from multiple-source data, inter-

pretation of eld (mining) data, expertise

in modelling tools, ability to manage

projects, ability to manage people (rela-

tions/communication, …).

On the other hand, secondary education

sets the base framework to enable students

to enroll in any European university and bedirectly able to deal with the study matters

in a comparable way with their colleagues

from other countries.

For these reasons we look very much

forward to seeing the results of the Euro-

Ages project in the years to come and to

benet from them.

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Euro-Ages and geology in Swedenby Vivi Vajda1 and Linda M. Larsson2

There are ve Higher Education Insti-tutes in Sweden producing graduatesin geology. Besides these universities,courses and programmes are also offeredin technical geology and marine geologyat several other schools in Sweden.However, these are usually offered toengineers only. The Swedish universi-ties adapted their education towardsthe Bologna process in 2007 and theHigher Education Institutes in Swedenhave basically the same framework fortheir geological education programmes.

They are all organized according to theBologna process where education ingeology is based on a three-level scale;Bachelor (3 years), Masters (2 years),and Ph.D. (3 years). Every degree hasa xed number of credits and a full yearof studies equals 60 ECTS credits. Intotal 75-100 geology graduates comethrough the Swedish Universities peryear. The number of freshmen studentsentering the geological programmes isstable and unemployment rates are low,and continue to decrease.

Sweden has with its 9.2 million

inhabitants the largest population

of the Nordic countries. It is sepa-

rated in the west from Norway by a range

of mountains and shares the Baltic Sea

with Finland. Sweden joined the Euro-

pean community in 1995 but has kept

its national currency, the Swedish krona.

Geology plays an important role in local

society and economical development,

Sweden being one of the more produc-

tive mining countries in Europe. Sweden

is a major iron ore exporter – the largest

one in Europe. The country further exportscopper, lead and zinc.

The number of geologists in the coun-

try is uncertain but c1000 geologists are

members of the Swedish Association of

Geologists within SACO (Swedish Aca-

demic Central Organization). There are

1Professor in palaeontology at the

Department of Earth and Ecosystem

Sciences, Lund University Sweden2Post doctoral researcher in palaeon-

tology and climate modelling at the

Department of Earth and Ecosystem

Sciences, Lund University Sweden

ve Higher Education Institutes (HEI)

in Sweden producing graduates in geol-

ogy (Fig. 1). The institutions are located

in Lund, Göteborg, Karlstad, Stockholm,

Uppsala and Umeå and are within tradi-

tional well-known universities in which

geology has been a recognized topic in

the sciences catalogue. The one in Umeå is

related to the existence of important min-

eral resources in the region. Besides these

universities, courses and programmes

are also offered in technical geology and

marine geology at several other schools in

Sweden (Fig. 2). However, these are usu-ally offered to engineers only.

The programme is open to students

from all over the world and was until 2010

free of charge, apart from a small fee for

compulsory membership in the Student’s

Union. Since 2011 however, a fee for Mas-

ters studies is required from students from

non-European community member states.

Applicants should have a B.Sc. in Geol-

ogy or Earth Sciences or equivalent pro-

ciency. Non-Nordic students who do not

have English as their mother tongue must

have passed an internationally-acknowl-

edged test in English, such as TOEFL (at

least 550/213), IELTS (at least 6.0) or

Cambridge Certicate of Prociency.

The Bologna process in geology

The Swedish universities adapted their

education towards the Bologna process in

2007 and are, therefore, accredited by the

Swedish government. The aims for join-

ing the Bologna process were primarily

to simplify the mobility between differ -

ent universities both on a national and

international level. The goal was further

to increase the employment opportunities

after graduationEducation in geology is based on a

three-level scale; Bachelor-, Master-, and

Ph.D.-level. Every degree has a xed

number of credits and a full year of stud-

ies equals 60 ECTS credits The Bachelor

level is three years and to achieve a Masters

degree, two years must be added. The usual

modus operandi is the existence of only

two or three different study programmes

at both levels. As a few examples one can

mention Palaeontology, Bedrock Geology

and Quaternary Geology. The workload of

a full-time student for one academic year of

study is dened as 60 ECTS credits, normally

Il existe cinq Etablissementsd’Enseignement Supérieur en Suède,à l’origine des diplômés en géolo-gie. Outre ces universités, des courset programmes en géotechniqueet en géologie marine sont égale-ment dispensés auprès de plusieursEcoles suédoises. Cependant, ilssont d’habitude l’apanage des seulsingénieurs. C’est en 2007 que les uni-versités suédoises se sont conforméesau système d’éducation du processusde Bologne, basé sur les trois niveaux

de qualication; Licence (3 ans), Maî-trise (2 ans) et Doctorat (3 ans).Chaque niveau comporte un nombredéni d’unités de valeur et une annéecomplète représente 60 unités. Autotal, 75 à 100 diplômés en géologiesortent chaque année des universitéssuédoises. Le nombre d’étudiants enpremière année de cursus géologiqueest stable et le taux de chômage estfaible et en diminution.

Hay cinco centros de educación supe-rior en Suecia que producen graduadosen geología. Además de estas universi-dades, varias escuelas de Suecia ofrecencursos y programas en técnica geológicay geología marina. Sin embargo estosúltimos se ofrecen sólo a ingenieros. Lasuniversidades suecas adaptaron su sis-tema educativo al proceso de Bolonia en2007 y los centros de educación superiorsuecos tienen el mismo marco de refer-encia para sus programas de educaciónen geología. Todos ellos están organiza-

dos de acuerdo con el proceso de Boloniaen el que la educación en geología se basaen un sistema de tres niveles: Grado (3años), Máster (2 años) y Doctorado (3años). Cada grado tiene un número jode créditos y un año completo de estu-dios equivale a 60 ECTS. Anualmente lasuniversidades suecas producen entre 75y 100 graduados al año. El número denuevos estudiantes que se incorporan alos programas geológicos esta establey las tasas de paro son bajas y siguendisminuyendo.

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30 ECTS credits for each semester. 1 ECTS

credit equals ~ 30 hours of workload. The

Bachelor programme involves 180 ECTS

credits and the Masters an additional 120

ECTS credits. The structures of the differ-ent courses, as well as the learning out-

comes and goals of education, have been

re-written according to the Bologna Pro-

cess. All courses have learning outcomes.

For each type of geological education one

has to complete particular courses to ful-

ll the specic learning outcome for the

chosen type of exam. Since Sweden has

not yet graduated any students within the

Bologna Process, it will only be possible

to see the full outcome and its advantages

after 2010.

Number of freshman students and grad-

uates in the country

The total number of places offered in

geology programmes by all universities

in Sweden is around 250 per year but the

total number of freshmen that nally join

the programmes each year is only 100. In

parallel with the reduction of freshmen

students, the number of study places has

increased, and as a consequence the uni-

versities have specialized their teaching

programmes in order to attract students.

Besides the shorter Bachelor pro-

gramme, most students choose to continuewith the two-year Masters (120 ECTS

credits) in geology. The M.Sc. programme

covers nearly all aspects of geology, from

minerals to climate changes and the evo-

lution of life. It aims to provide students

with a broad knowledge of geology and

exposure to areas on the cutting edge of

research, a thorough understanding of

the practical applications of geology, and

transferable and subject-specic skills

necessary for academic research or entry

into various employment opportunities in

private companies or governmental agen-

cies. Training in writing and oral presentation

Figure 1. Number of freshmen students (blue = Bachelor; red = Masters)in the Swedish universities

Figure 2. Number of freshmen students (blue = Bachelor; red = Masters) in theSwedish geotechnical system

skills are promoted throughout the period

of study.

The learning outcomes in the eld of

Geology are not dened at a national level.

It is entirely the responsibility of the indi-vidual HEI to dene its own learning out-

comes for the geology programmes. There

are no professional bodies that dene

additional prerequisites. However, the

institutional board at each HEI bases the

learning outcomes partly on expectations

of national stake-holders. Sweden does

not yet have a system for accreditation of geology programmes. The unemployment

rate among geologists is low in the country

and continues to decrease.

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News from Spain

E F G

N e

w s a n d E v e n t s 2 0 1 0

Regulations

The EFG Statutes and Regulations are

important documents that underpin the

smooth running of the Federation. In

addition, the statutes and regulations can be used to demonstrate to members and

other professional organizations that EFG

is organized and run in a structured and

professional manner.

The Statues had remained unchanged

for most of the life of the EFG whilst the

Regulations were last updated in 2002. In

2008, Council decided that the time had

come for a fundamental review of these

documents by the Registration Authority.

The main reason that a review was deemed

necessary was that a series of changes

over the years had resulted in a number of

inconsistencies, and that the regulationsno longer reected the way that the EFG

wanted to operate.

This process has now been completed

with updated Statutes which are published

on the EFG web site. The full set of regula-

tions has also now been completed and was

approved by Council in May 2010.

The main change that has arisen in the

General

G1 Schedule of Regulations

G2 Statutes and Regulations: compliance

G3 Publications and Communications

G4 Use of the Common Seal

G5 Awards

Code of Ethics

C1 Code of Ethics

C2 Grievance and Disciplinary Procedures

Operation of the European Federation of Geologists

N1 Membership of the EFG

N2 Subscriptions and Fees for Members of EFG

N3 Working Groups and Panels of Experts

N4 Operation of the Ofce

N5 Projects and Contracts N6 Financial Management

N7 Election of Ofcers

N8 Council Meetings

N9 The Board

European Geologist

E1 Criteria for award of title of European Geologist

E2 Procedure for award of title of European Geologist

E3 National Vetting Committees

E4 Licensed Bodies

E5 Registration Authority

E6 Continuing Professional Development

E7 Subscriptions and fees for European Geologists

review is that the regulations have been

split into a series of separate documents

which will make it much easier to maintain

in the coming years. The schedule of regu-

lations is shown in the box below.

The task of editing and updating the

statutes and regulations largely fell to Bob

Chaplow my predecessor as Chair of the

Registration Authority, and the EFG owes

him a big vote of thanks for the huge

contribution this task has made to the pro-

fessional operation of EFG; thanks are

also due to those Council members who

assisted in the review process.

Renewals

One of the changes that the revision of

the regulations has conrmed is for the

renewal of the EurGeol. title to be now

made on an annual basis, rather than

the previous triennial arrangement. Thismeans that every EurGeol. has to provide

all the details for renewal to the relevant

Licensed body annually. A renewal con-

sists of payment of the annual EurGeol. fee

and the provision of a CPD record.

The provision of an annual CPD return

is a requirement of maintaining your Eur -

Geol. status. This return can either be

electronic or on a

proforma summary

sheet sent on paper

or as a pdf and

although there is no

particular requiredformat, templates

are provided on the

EFG web pages. It

is not necessary

for all evidence

and documenta-

tion in support of

the statement to be

provided.

Once a return

is provided to the

Licensed Body, the

EurGeol. should

assume that it has

been received

and is satisfac-

tory unless there

is correspondence

to the contrary.

A small number

of returns are ran-

domly selected for

audit, and in these

cases the Licensed

Body might call for

further supporting

information.

CPD reports are sent to the relevant

Licensed Body. This is either a National

Body (IGI Ireland, ICOG Spain, CHGEOL

Switzerland and GSL UK) or the Interna-

tional Body which is administered through

the EFG Ofce in Brussels.

David NorburyChair, EFG Registration Authority

On regulations and renewals

First Spanish Geological Olympiad

Geology as a science, wishes to join the

Scientic Olympiad and in order to do so,

several Spanish geological associations,

coordinated by the Spanish Association for

the Teaching of Earth Sciences (AEPECT),

decided to organize the 1st Spanish Geo-

logical Olympiad.

This Olympiad was held for the rst

time internationally during the Interna-

tional Year of Planet Earth (IYPE). Its rst

call took place at Seoul National Univer-

sity (Korea) in September 2007. AEPECT

presented the project to the IYPE Com-

mission but funding failed, but the rst

Geological Olympiad was carried out in

Spain in the Basque Country in 2009. The

extraordinary success of this call encour -

aged us to promote this Olympiad at a

national level.

We aimed to stimulate students of

Earth Sciences as well as to promote theadvancement and dissemination of geol-

ogy in today’s world. So that geology,

as a branch of science with an enormous

educational value, can also have an impor-

tant cultural aspect. It is hoped that the

Geological Olympiad, more than a mere

exam, is turning into a true celebration

of geology.

During this rst event, participation

was voluntary. Some regions had no par -

ticipants, but the objective in future calls

is a global participation so that we will

be able to attend the International Geo-

logical Olympiad. The regional phase wasconducted at the provincial level through-

out February 2010 with 600 participating

students.

Development of the national phase of

the Olympiad

The national phase took place from 27-28

March in Madrid (Figs 1&2), with the

participation of three winners from the

regional phase. During this rst part of

the competition, participants had to dem-

onstrate their knowledge by answering

questions at the Faculty of Geology in

Madrid.

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On 27 March, 36 students from 14

provinces (Alicante, Barcelona, Gerona,

Guadalajara, La Coruña, Huelva, Madrid,

Málaga, Murcia, País Vasco, Sevilla,

Valencia y Zaragoza) were received by

the Dean and Deputy Dean of the Faculty

of Geology, accompanied by the president

of AEPECT.

Then, the test began by following a

route marked by Dinosaur footprints. The

tests comprised a questionnaire on geol-

ogy and the identication of samples (51

questions in all), were held in classrooms

and laboratories. Two questions had to be

solved by a team of three participants from

different provinces. The development of

these tests had the cooperation of the

Organizing Committee and the support of

7 students of the Faculty.

The test was followed by a workshop on

“Discovering our steps through Atapuerca”concerning research on human evolution.

The workshop was chaired by Dr Ignacio

Martinez and Dr Alejandro Mendizábal,

who do research on this wonderful deposit

of human fossils located near Burgos. In

the afternoon, participants moved to the

GeoMining Museum at the Geological

Survey of Spain, to enjoy a guided tour

by its director, Dr. Isabel Rábano (Fig. 3).

The awarding ceremony took place

on 28 March at the premises of the Of-

cial Spanish Association of Professional

Geologists (ICOG). It was chaired by the

President, Mr. Luis Suarez, accompanied by the Director of the Geological Survey

of Spain, Dr. José Pedro Calvo, the Dean

of the Faculty of Geology of Madrid, Dr.

Eumenio Ancochea, the President of the

Geological Society of Spain, Dr. Ana

Crespo and the President of the Spanish

Association for the Teaching of Earth Sci-

ences Dr. Amelia Calonge, who coordi-

nated this event.

We must congratulate all the participat-

ing schools for the high level of geological

knowledge of the 36 students who reached

the nals. Out of a maximum score of 52

points no one obtained less than 26 and all

6 winners exceeded 40 points. The win-

ners were:

1. Manuel Ledesma Rodríguez. IES

Emilio Prados (Málaga).

2. Andreu Vinyoles Busquets. Escola

Pia Nostra Senyora (Barcelona).

3. Sergio Linares Fernández. IES

Fuente Juncal de Aljaraque (Huelva).

4. Ignacio Fernández Herrero. IES La

Serna de Fuenlabrada (Madrid).

5. Irene García Ruíz del colegio El

Armelar de Paterna (Valencia).

6. Manuel Ibáñez Gabarrón de Lorca(Murcia).

Figure 1. Geological Olympiads held in Madrid 26 February (Photo: L. Quintanilla)

Figure 2. A group of participants in the 1 st Spanish Geological Olympiad with accompanying teachers (Photo: A. Calonge)

Figure 3 .- Visit the GeoMining museum (IGME), supervised by Dr Isabel Rábano, Museum director

(Photo: A. Calonge)

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All nalists received a certicate and a

gift, depending on the position obtained in

the ranking (Fig. 4), as stated in the website

of the Olympics: (http://www.aepect.org/

olimpiadasgeologia/index2010.htm).

At the end of the awarding ceremony,

a questionnaire was distributed among the

participants which was completed by 30

students. Although we would have liked

to have the views of all the students, we

believe that the results are representative

of the general feeling. Broadly speaking, it

is noteworthy that the Olympics were rated

with a 4 or 5 on a scale of 1 - 5. Specically,

60% of survey respondents assessed the

Olympics as excellent (4), and 40% con-

sidered it more than excellent (5). It should

be noted that 100% would recommend that

this activity should be carried our annually

and 15% suggested that the exams should

be made in the four regional languagesexisting in Spain. Moreover, the reply to

open questions such as “your opinion about

the best thing of the Olympics” highlighted

the friendly atmosphere generated from

the beginning.

In view of these results, all members of

the Organizing Committee and the Board

of AEPECT consider that these results

somehow compensate the important effort

and dedication that have been made during

this year to organize this rst edition of the

Olympics.

Final thoughtsThe great success of this initiative leads the

organizers to propose that these Olympics

of Geology should be held every year, to

support the promotion of careers in science

and hoping to add Geology as a new subject

during the 5th edition of the International

Olympics.

The second National Geological Olym-

pics will also be held in Madrid to help

to consolidate the project, with the hope

of rotation through different provinces in

the future.

This second event (http://www.aepect.

org/olimpiadasgeologia/index.htm )

will use the facilities of CosmoCaixa in

Madrid, a special place with an interac-

tive science museum. The aim is that 4

nalists will then participate in the next

International Earth Science Olympiads

(September 2011).

The II Olympics of Geology will be

held to encourage students to know and

understand Geology and Earth Sciences

better, to be more involved in Planet

Earth and the way geologists try to under -

stand how it works and to explain the

many outstanding problems waiting for

the next generation to solve. Others will

become more responsible citizens thanks

to a deeper and extended knowledge of the

planet were we live.

Earth itself is not in danger, but human-

ity needs the planet and we need future

geologists and scientists to nd the solu-

tion to living on Earth without making it

inhospitable. We recognize that the great

effort of organizing the Spanish Geological

Olympics has been adequately rewarded by

the enthusiasm of bringing geology close

to all our citizens - especially younger ones

- who will be in the future responsible of

the protection of our planet.

Acknowledgements

We would also like to thank the nan-

cial support of Repsol and AEPECT. We

have also received staff and merchandis-

ing support from IGME, CosmoCaixa,Fundación Ancestros, Geonatura, Ofcial

Association of Professional of Geolo-

gists (ICOG), Complutense University of

Madrid (UCM), University of Alcalá de

Henares (UAH), and the Faculty of Geol-

ogy of the UCM.

Amelia Calonge García President of the Spanish Association for theTeaching of Earth Sciences (AEPECT) [email protected] www.aepect.org

News from GsF

The TOGO Project (West Africa )

2007-2010

The GsF TOGO project started in March

2007, with a preliminary mission to the

country, in order to evaluate, in a central

plateau North of Notse town, the possibil-

ity of supplying drinking water to a certain

number of rural villages (total inhabitants

around 10,000), where water was very

scarse.

During the rst visit, the project area

was dened and a preliminary hydrogeo-

logical survey of the plateau carried out

- mainly granite outcrops of the basement-

wherein a sketch topographic map of the

area at 1:5.000 scale was drawn.

The villages concerned are: Agbatitoe

(the only Village close to the main National

Road), Simbao, Koledjikope, Avovo and

Yava.

Shallow water wells had previously

been drilled in the area with negative

results; where water was found, wells gen-

erally dry up during drought periods.

The results of the hydrogeological

investigation suggested that drillings had

to be deep, looking for productive faults

and fractures in the granite basement.

In February 2009, the project entered

the operational stage.

Two deep water production wells have

been drilled in the area of Koledjikope

village, choosing the central portion of

the plateau, an area known as Fadakope,

where a Pilot Farm has been put in place,

offering working opportunities for the pla-

teau people.

The drillings, at depths of 75 and 98

m, have proved to be very positive and

have been equipped with screen casing and

electric submergible pumps, working withsolar panels. The average water yield for

each well is around 10,000 litres/day.

Simple water distribution systems,

consisting of pipeline connections from

the well to suspended plastic (polythene)

water tanks and fountains with water taps,

have been put in place for both drilled

wells.

Two water retention basins have been

excavated (centre of the plateau and north-

ern area (Yava Village), with capacities of

6,000 / 8,000 m3. They have proved to be

of great benet to the whole population

of the surrounding villages, especially for agricultural purposes.

During May and June 2010, a further

two deep-water wells (depths of 160 and

115 m) were drilled in the Villages of Yava

(North - population around 1,900) and

Avovo (Centre-East - population 2,500).

It is important to point out that in both

areas several drilling attempts had been

previously made with negative results.

Both drillings have proved to be posi-

tive. Water was found at considerable

depths - 85 and 140 m in Yava and 70 and

105 m in Avovo.

The wells have been equipped with

screen casing and provided with elec-

tric submergible pumps and solar panels

(manufactured by FLUXINOS Italia Srl

- Grosseto. IT).

Chemical analysis has proved the good

quality of water in both wells.

The works have been completed with

the installation of water distribution sys-

tems, similar to those achieved in 2009.

The people of the plateau can now ben-

et from the drinking water obtained from

the four drilled wells.

Considering the water retention basins,

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http://www.aepect.org/olimpiadasgeologia/index.htm



http://www.aepect.org/

http://www.geologossinfronteras-italia.org/

http://www.aepect.org/






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as well, that have been excavated, which

mainly provide water for agricultural pur -

poses and domestic uses, it can undoubt-

edly be seen that living conditions have

very much changed and improved in

Agbatitoe and the surrounding villages.

TheTabarre and Leogane water projects

in Haiti

The Tabarre and Leogane Water Projects

were described in detail in European Geol-

ogist 29, May 2010.

At present,GsF is in the phase of “fund

raising”, in order to raise the necessary

amount of money to start the project.

Fund raising has been organized on an

International basis.

We have had a good response from Italy,

France, UK and Spain.

The “EXPO 2015 MILANO Organiza-

tion” is considering the project with greatinterest, as the topic of the “EXPO 2015

Exibition” is “Feeding the Planet”.

For more information and to make a

contribution to this worthy and much-

needed project, please contact:

Banca Popolare di Bergamo - Milano

Sede

Via Manzoni, 7 29121 MILANO. IT

IBAN: IT 11 O054 2801 6020 0000

0024 497

REF. “Helping HAITI”

Carlo Enrico BraviSenior Hydrogeologist and President of GsF - Italia - Onlus

Geologos sin Fronteras - Gelogi

senza Frontiere--Delegazione Italiana

ONLUS.

Via G. Boccaccio, 45. 20123 Milano

Italy.

Phone: 0039 02 86460491/86463115

Fax: 0039 02 86460579

[email protected] [email protected]

www.geologossinfronteras-italia.org

Solar panels for the submergible pump installed in the Avovo village water well Avovo village: songs and dances to celebrate the arrival

af drinking water

Drilling operations in Yava village

Water distribution system in Fadakope

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B o o k r e v i e w

Introducing Palaeontology

A Guide to Ancient Life

by Patrick N. Wyse Jackson

Book review by David Harper 1

Published by: Dunedin Academic Press Ltd. [ www.dunedinacademicpress.co.uk ] ISBN: 978-1-906716-15-8 Date: 2010, 152 pages Price: £9.99 (stg), paperback

This is the third in a short series of

concise introductions to aspects of

the geosciences published by Dun-

edin Academic Press. Those already pub-

lished, on geology (2nd edition, see below))

and volcanology, are clearly written and

lavishly illustrated. This new addition to

the stable, Introducing Palaeontology, is no

exception. Patrick Wyse Jackson in some

150 pages and 100 gures has attempted

to summarize the history of life on our planet, a journey that stretches back almost

four billion years, underpinning the plan-

et’s biodiversity today of some 20 million

species. The book is logically arranged.

The rst part, some 50 pages, is devoted

to concepts such as taxonomy, the use of

fossils in, for example, biostratigraphy and

the reconstruction of ancient climates and

environments; the occurrence and signi-

cance of exceptionally-preserved biotas of

the fossil Lagerstätten is a particular focus.

The history of life is reviewed and the main

extinction events exposed. Particularly

useful are the sections of the collection

and study of fossils and a collectors’ code

of conduct. The second part, the bulk of the

book, addresses the 18 main groups that

characterize the fossil record; everything

from algae and the vascular plants to dino-

saurs and human evolution is tackled in

an engaging style ably supported by John

Murray’s clear and didactic illustrations.

About three pages are devoted to each

group, enough to introduce the morphol-

ogy, distribution and ecology of each with

essential terminology that can be pursued

further in a comprehensive glossary.

There is, however, already a range of

excellent textbooks in palaeontology. Is

there need for yet another? Well, yes there

always is a need for another, particularly

one that is ambitious, as well as compe-

tent and well focused. This book is aimed

at both the general public and students

taking introductory courses in palaeontol-

ogy. Wyse Jackson admirably crosses this

divide between an informed coffee table book and an academic text, with a lucid

and informative narrative, illustrations that

really jump from the page and a core of

very useful information for the amateur

and professional alike. One slight irritation

is the lack of scales on the photographs;

microscopic radiolarians, for example,

appearing at almost the same size as dino-

saur footprints. Some of these data can be

gleaned from the text but scale bars would

be an advantage. I would recommend this

as one of the best introductory texts on the

subject around at present and no doubt its

ne illustrations will soon begin to punc-tuate many introductory courses in our

science.

Published by: Dunedin Academic Press Ltd. [ www.dunedinacademicpress.co.uk ] ISBN: 978-1-906716-21-9 Date: 2010, 134 pages Price: £9.99 (stg), paperback

Introducing Geology

A Guide to the World of Rocks

by Graham Park

Review by David Harper 1

Graham Park, in his rst edition

of Introducing Geology, captured

the excitement of the Earth Sci-

ences in an accessible, elegantly-written,

beautifully-illustrated guide to the com-

1 Professor of Palaeontology and Head of Geology, Natural History Museum of

Denmark, University of Copenhagen

position and history of our planet. In his

second edition, some four years later, the

text has been revised, many of the line

drawings redrafted and a short list of refer -

ences to the literature and useful web links

added. This remains a key resource for both

amateur and professional geologists alike,

remarkably squeezing virtually all of the

basics of our subject into some 135 pages

with many informative illustrations.

For a review of the First Edition (2006),

see European Geologist 22, p.40.

http://www.dunedinacademicpress.co.uk/




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European Federation of Geologists (EFG)

The European Federation of Geologists was established in Paris in 1980 during the 26th International Congress of Geology. In the same year the Statutes

were presented to the European Economic Community in Brussels.

The Council of the EFG is composed of the representatives of the National Associations of geologists of Belgium-Luxembourg (UBLG), Croatia

(CGS), Cyprus (CAGME), Czech Republic (CAEG), Finland (YKL), France (UFG), Germany (BDG), Greece (AGG), Hungary (MFT), Ireland (IGI),

Italy (CNG), Netherlands (KNGMG), Portugal (APG), Russia (NAEM), Serbia (SGS), Slovakia (SGS), Slovenia (SGD), Spain (ICOG), Sweden (N),

Switzerland (CHGEOL), United Kingdom (GS), whilst the American Institute of Professional Geologists (AIPG) is an Associate Member. The EFG

currently represents about 50,000 geologists across Europe.

Mission

To promote the profession and practice of geology and its relevance.

Objectives

1. To promote and facilitate the establishment and implementation of national arrangements for recognizing geologists who, through academic trainingand appropriate periods of relevant experience in the profession and practice of geology, are qualied to be designated as EurGeol.

2. To organize meetings and conferences to discuss issues related to the profession and practice of geology.

3. To co-ordinate the activities of member national organisations in preparing brieng papers on geological issues and presenting these to European

bodies, national governments and other relevant organisations.

4. To maintain contact with the European Commission and respond in timely manner to requests for information.

5. To communicate, through meetings and other means, the relevance of geology to the resolution of issues of concern to society.

6. To promote the establishment of best practice for training of geologists.

7. To safeguard and promote the present and future interests of the geological profession in Europe, including:

- to guarantee the free movement of geologists in Europe, with the mutual recognition of their academic and professional qualications by the adop-

tion of the title of European Geologist (EurGeol.).

- to promote the harmonisation of education and training.

- to dene and protect the title of geologist and related professional titles.

- to promote the code of professional ethics of the EFG.

- to provide advice and assistance to constituent member National Associations.

Submission of articles to European Geologist magazine

The EFG calls for quality articles for future issues of European Geologist. Submissions should be in English, 1000 words for short articles and 3000 words

for feature articles. An abstract of between 100 and 120 words should be included in English, French and Spanish. Articles should be sent via e-mail to

the Editor at [email protected] or. Photographs or graphics are very welcome and should be sent to the Editor as tif or jpg les in CYMG

colour. Further details may be found on the EFG website: www.eurogeologists.eu

Deadline for submission 30 April and 30 October.

Advertisements

Prices for advertisementsOne Insertion Two Insertions

Full page (colour) 820 Euro 1320 Euro

Half page (colour) 420 Euro 670 Euro

Quarter page (colour) 220 Euro 350 Euro

Full page (black and white) 420 Euro 670 Euro

Half page (black and white) 220 Euro 350 Euro

Quarter page (black and white) 120 Euro 200 Euro

Business card size 90 Euro 150 Euro

Preferential location 25% plus

Price for special pages:

Outside back cover (colour) 1200 Euro 1900 Euro

Second page (colour) 1000 Euro 1600 Euro

Second last page (colour) 1000 Euro 1600 Euro

Data for European Geologist Magazine

Number of issues printed: 6500

Periodicity: 2 times a year

Print mode: Offset

Size: A4 (210 mm x 297 mm)

Deadline: 30 March, 30 September.

Published: 30 May, 30 November

Advertisement delivered as computer le: EPS, TIFF

For graphics remember to include fonts.

More than 20,000 electronic copies of European

Geologist are distributed among professional

geologists all over Europe, as well as the USA.

They are sent to the National Associations of

geologists of each member country, and these

National Associations distribute them to their

members. These include geologists working in

industry as well as at universities.

Layout of the magazine is made in AdobeIndesign CS for PC.

Method of payment:

Invoice after publication

Subscription Rates: Annual subscription to

the Magazine: 25 Euro

Contact:

Dr. Maureen Mc Corry

e-mail: [email protected]

Tel: 0045 45831970 or 51900266







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